Trail Projects:
The park is for mountain climbers, trail walkers, naturalists and campers, people who are willing to put up with certain primitive conditions.
– Percival P. Baxter
Trails are the heart of Baxter State Park. They take us to fantastic views and give us the opportunity to see wildlife, wildflowers, and wild weather, too. They challenge us, frustrate us, and sometimes thrash us good. But we share the experience with old friends and may make new friends, too.
parts of the Marston trail.
Few but those who work on trail crews know how much time and effort goes into maintaining a trail. Ask experienced trail crew leaders, and they’ll tell you maintenance is a huge challenge, especially at a place like Baxter State Park. It’s mostly dirty work done by hand. The weather can be bad. The black flies worse. The commute alone can take an hour or more on foot. If it’s shorter, you are probably in a spike camp for 5-10 days at a time. Moving one rock for a stone step can take hours. In the alpine zone, the window for work is narrow; it’s a short season made shorter on any given day by inclement weather. But the work is needed to protect Park resources and provide durable, obvious routes for hikers.
The Friends of Baxter State Park is committed to helping the Park maintain its trails in several ways.
- External grants funding workers. The Park staff work with Friends to define trail improvement projects and Friends applies for and receives grants from the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) and other granting agencies. Friends then contracts with the Maine Conservation Corps (MCC) and puts teams to work in the Park for ten weeks under the supervision of a BSP Trail Supervisor. This infusion of money and labor enables the Trail Crew to perform more work than in previous years. We continue to seek similar grants using this same model and work with the Park to target future rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. The need is never-ending.
- Volunteers.The Friends has sent FBSP chainsaw crews into the Park on spring weekends to help clear trails of winter blow downs. A crew consists of one certified sawyer and three able bodied folk. Anyone is welcome to join us as a swamper (sounds like fun), and we are always looking for certified sawyers. In fact, if you have the interest, we will pay you to attend the required two-day sawyer class if you commit to post-doc work in the Park! We also encourage members to become BSP Trail Stewards. After attending National Trails Day Training in June, trail stewards volunteer on three weekends to perform basic maintenance like brushing, blazing, and cleaning waterbars. It’s a great way to get to the Park more often. To find out more about what it’s really like, check out Loppers R Us, an article in our Winter 2011 newsletter Forever Wild by one of our long-time trail stewards. Through a grant from L. L. Bean, Friends funds Volunteer Coordinators who work directly with BSP staff. For information on Volunteering see the volunteer section of this website and contact us at volunteer@friendsofbaxter.org
- Trail Advocacy. Many of us are avid hikers and know the trail system well. When the opportunity arises, we offer our voice on trails planning to help provide Park staff with a fuller picture from the perspective of experienced Park users. We did so for the Katahdin Lake Assimilation Plan. We also did so for the North Peaks Trail, that was closed in 2001 and, we are pleased to say, is now scheduled to rejoin the trail system. Several of us will be delighted to help rehabilitate and reopen this important and historic trail link. Currently the Park is in the process of drafting a Park Management Plan. The Friends Board members are reviewing this draft and submitting their comments for consideration and debate.
- Funding Trails Inventory. Baxter State Park needs a trails inventory to be able to assess the condition of every trail based on established goals and standards for maintenance and estimate the cost for rehabilitation. Without such an inventory, it is difficult to prioritize work. The inventory is an exhaustive GIS-based survey best done by an experienced trail worker; but finding the time, money, and right person to accomplish this during the work season is a challenge. Friends has funded this important need through the Davis Conservation Foundation and FBSP’s own funds raised through membership. With an inventory in hand, it will be much easier to apply for grants because a detailed work plan and cost estimates are more readily available. We will continue to consider other opportunities for direct trails grants as needs arise.
