Winter access to Lily Bay is limited

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

One state park is closed because of storm damage and access to another is limited due to a staffing shortage, according to a spokesman for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Reid State Park in Georgetown saw the most damage in Maine’s park system from Jan. 10’s storm, said Andy Cutko, director of parks and lands, which is a division of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

The storm caused thousands of power outages and flooding in hundreds of towns, and battered the Maine coast with strong winds and damaging high tides.

It left debris, flooded a road and caused extensive erosion at Reid, Cutko said Jan. 12. 

He and a team of Bureau of Parks and Lands staff plan to take a closer look at Reid and other coastal parks after the next damaging storm predicted for Jan. 13.

Lily Bay State Park in Beaver Cove will offer limited access this winter due to lack of staff, Cutko said.

The entrance road will be plowed to the welcome station, but the extra mile usually plowed beyond that will not be maintained this winter. There will be limited parking at the welcome station for those who want to ski, snowshoe or access Moosehead Lake on a snowmobile.

The cross country trails will not be groomed this year, and no overnight camping will be allowed. The park will be day use only, according to a Bureau of Public Lands press release.

Limited winter overnight camping has been allowed in past years, Cutko said.