PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 18, 2021
The need for more durable and sustainable hiking trails in Maine has come into the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic as land trusts have experienced a surge in hikers, some of them on trails badly in need of repair. Soon there could be help for those trails, as Maine becomes one of a handful of states in the nation to offer a fixed-site, trail-building school. On Monday, the Maine Appalachian Trail Club will launch a public fundraising campaign for the $1.3 million Maine Trail Center, a multi-use facility it plans to build near the Kennebec River in Skowhegan. The center will serve as a site to house volunteer trail crews working on the AT, and as a facility other groups can rent or use for trail-building workshops or to teach trail-building design and skills.