Greenville receives $34K grant for trail

    GREENVILLE — The town of Greenville has received a $34,209 grant from the Recreational Trails Program administered by the Division of Parks and Public Lands of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to develop a

snowmobile and ATV trail linking the Snowmobile Club on Scammon Road to the Prong Pond Trailhead in Beaver Cove.   
    This new trail will allow ATVs and snowmobiles to travel from the Greenville Jct. Trailhead on Depot Road to the Prong Pond Trailhead in Beaver Cover connecting to the snowmobile and ATV trails in Kokadjo.
    The Moosehead Riders, Shirley Bog and Northern Lights Snowmobile Clubs will be developing the snowmobile trail this summer.  The snowmobile trail from the snowmobile club accesses Scammon Ridge north to Elephant Mountain, Mountain View and Outer Scammon Roads to the snowmobile kiosk and then to a multipurpose trail to the Prong Pond Trailhead. This will allow a complete snowmobile loop trail around Moosehead Lake.
    The Moosehead Riders and Northern Lights ATV Clubs will be developing the ATV trail.  The new ATV trail from the Snowmobile Club will follow Scammon, Varney and Airport Roads crossing Wilson Stream using the bridge owned by Plum Creek, then following the KI Road to logging roads on the south-east side of Wilson Ponds to connect at the snowmobile kiosk and then follow a multi-use trail to the Prong Pond Trailhead.
    The grant was submitted by the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC).
    “We expect that once final landowner permissions have been secured that construction on both trails can be completed this summer.  We hope to have the ATV trail open by the end of summer and the snowmobile trail ready for the winter season,” according to Dr. Kenneth B. Woodbury, community development director of the PCEDC. “This grant allows Greenville to complete the ‘missing link’ in the loop trail circumnavigating Moosehead Lake and to connect the ATV trail system through Greenville to access the extensive Kokadjo trail system.”
    In addition, the grant will sponsor two ATV/snowmobile summits this year. One summit will bring together ATV and snowmobile clubs throughout the region with county, state and municipal legislators to develop a shared strategy for funding trail maintenance. A second summit this fall will focus on area businesses and how they can increase and retain ATV and snowmobile customers.
    Anyone having questions about the RTP grant can contact Woodbury at 564-3638.