PORTLAND, Maine — Portland Trails is still working to restore trails that were damaged during the destructive storms that hit Maine this past winter, and the nonprofit is asking community members and private donors to help ease the financial burden of restoration costs.
Portland Trails manages 80 miles of trails that connect Portland to other communities, such as Falmouth, South Portland, and Westbrook.
Blue Butterfield regularly bikes various trails in the system. Butterfield is like many Mainers: A threat to the environment is a threat to their way of life.
"Today I'm actually biking to Falmouth because you can kind of make your way through myriad trails," Butterfield said. "Things that stood for hundreds of years are now no longer on stable footing."
Portland Trails executive director Jon Kachmar said the organization has already spent more than $40,000 on emergency repairs to trails and bridges that were damaged.
Kachmar explained trails in Greater Portland were hit the hardest.
"We are getting FEMA assistance," Kachmar said. "We piggyback with the city of Portland, but only on properties owned by the city of Portland."
Kachmar said they requested $90,000 in reimbursement assistance from FEMA to restore and repair city-owned trails, but they will need to spend about $100,000 or more to repair trails they own and co-manage in other municipalities.
Portland Trails qualified to receive FEMA assistance for the latter, but Kachmar said the nonprofits often have to jump through several hoops actually receive funding through the federal organization.
He added that determining the scale of damage caused by the storms proved to be more challenging for the organization to document because the trail system is spread out covering a lot of ground. Kachmar also explained that the widespread water erosion the trail system sustained was not easy to immediately pinpoint or see.
For those reasons, Kachmar said Portland Trails did not apply for FEMA assistance that could have reimbursed them for out-of-pocket cost to repair trail systems they own and co-manage in Portland and other municipalities.
Ten bridges within 1 mile on the Portland trail system's Canal Path were submerged by back-to-back winter storms, twisted, and ripped from their grounding places, according to Portland Trails maintenance and volunteer coordinator Daniel Bishop.
"In the 10 years that I've been here, none of the bridges along this path moved, and then last year all of them did," Bishop said.
Grassy areas were oversaturated with water, weakening trees that came crashing down.
"We had over 100 trees come down across our trail system," Bishop said.
Some 400 feet of bridges have been replaced throughout the entire trail system. Trails and transportation manager Jamie Parker said the nonprofit is simultaneously striving to make the trail system more resilient as they make repairs.
"We're having to consider bringing in hundreds of tons of gravel and stone to harden and elevate this section of trail," Parker said. "This is just one section out of our 80-mile network."
Parker, Kachmar, and Bishop said it's up to everyone to pitch in and help restore outdoor spaces that are still damaged from severe storms, especially being that the organization receives very little funding from the city.
Kachmar said they applied for a $200,000 federal grant in April, but they have yet to receive an update about whether they were approved to receive more funding.
Bishop said there are scores more of bridges that need repairs or elevation, requiring more work, more material and more funding to repair from the damage.
"We can't do it alone," Bishop said.
Portland trails has received about half of the $100,000 needed to meet their resiliency fund goal—but Kachmar said they need more donations to cover the cost of restoration and regular upkeep efforts.
If you would like to donate to the organization's resiliency fund, click here.