Archived News

At a meeting with a group of equestrians on January 11, 2012, the Eastern Trail Municipal District lifted the moratorium on horseback riding on the Kennebunk-Arundel-Biddeford section of the Eastern Trial until March 1, 2012, with the understanding that members of the local equestrian community will work with the ETMD to define, by that date, a set of rules and responsibilities to govern their use of the trail, and which they would publicize and support to ensure that the trail can be maintained for all users.

The equestrian community plans on developing rules for equestrians use of the trail to present at the next ETMD meeting on February 8th. FMI, contact the ETA by email or by phone at 207-284-9260.

by Deirdre Fleming, Portland Press Herald, December 25, 2011

[Ed.’s Note: This article describes USM Professor Richard Barringer’s tale of an outdoor funding windfall heading for Maine, one which might happen in 2012. Key Quote: “And in southern Maine this year, a windfall of bicycle and pedestrian grant cash allowed the East Coast Greenway, called the Eastern Trail here, to get a bridge over Interstate 95 in Kennebunk and another over Route 1 in Saco — nearly turning it into a contiguous off-road trail through seven urban towns.”]

Professor Richard Barringer likes to start at the beginning when he begins the tale of the outdoor funding windfall heading for Maine. But really, the good timing and hope in this story is in what could happen in 2012.

Either way, his story is one worth telling on Christmas Day.

Last year the University of Southern Maine professor handed a report he was commissioned to write by the New England governors to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar who, he said, passed it on to President Obama. And the chiefs at the helm of America’s outdoors policy liked what they saw.

Barringer’s report very closely aligned with Obama’s goals laid out in America’s Great Outdoors initiative rolled out by the president in April 2010. It highlighted seven projects around major natural corridors in New England that with relatively little funding could change the way Americans here live, work, play, recreate and relate to the environment.

These projects would fight childhood obesity, reinvest our collective passion in land, and bring nature and good health into our everyday lives.

But like a seasoned professor, Barringer takes even a bigger view of the history that could play out here.

“Let me take you back further, all the way back to 1908 when the governors of New England gathered to talk about the devastated headwaters, the logging practices,” Barringer said Thursday. “The result of that meeting was the Green Mountain and White Mountain national forests. In 2008, the New England governors memorialized that meeting and created this commission on land conservation.”

Read the full article on-line here.

Share this article:

By DEIRDRE FLEMING – March 15, 2010

CAPE ELIZABETH: Bob Bowker pointed at two lighthouses that sat back from the lush vegetation some distance from the park named for them on the Cape Elizabeth peninsula.

At one time, they were used by mariners to help navigate into Portland Harbor, he explained. ”They would line up the two lights,” he said.

And just as Bowker offered this impromptu history lesson about Two Lights State Park, a motorist with a Maine license plate pulled up and asked the cyclist for directions to Portland Head Light farther up the coast.

Bowker obliged, but quickly added with a wave to Cape Elizabeth Light east and west: ”There are two lighthouses right there.”

As the creator of the Maine Lighthouse Ride, Bowker is a bit of an advocate for lighthouses. The charity ride, which will be held for the fifth year Sept. 13, winds by five lighthouses and within view of three others that sit offshore: Wood Island Light, Ram Island Ledge Light and Halfway Rock Light.

Read the full article online here

Share this article:

Press Release – Bicycle Coalition of Maine

Augusta – Maine is the third most bike-friendly state in the country, the League of American Bicyclists announced Wednesday.  This is the second year in a row that Maine has held that ranking, based on a League survey covering legislation, enforcement, education and encouragement, policies and programs, infrastructure, evaluation and planning.

The League released the state rankings during National Bike to Work Week.  The Bicycle Coalition of Maine is joining with several other organizations to host a Maine Bike to Work Day celebration on May 21 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lobsterman Park (corner of Temple and Spring Streets) in downtown Portland.

The League survey rated Maine first in the country in infrastructure.  During the past year, Maine’s network of shared-use paths has expanded rapidly with the opening of the first sections of the Down East Sunrise Trail and the Maine Mountain Division Trail.  More than 60 miles of additional shared-use paths will be built this summer as part of those two projects and the Eastern Trail in York County.

“I’m very pleased that Maine is being recognized at this level for the second year in a row, and especially pleased that the League ranked Maine number one in infrastructure,” said MaineDOT Commissioner David Cole. “We continue to make real progress on a balanced, multimodal system that will meet the varied transportation needs of Maine people.”

Read the full article online here

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has been working since 1992 to make Maine a better place to bicycle.  The coalition advocates for Maine cyclists at the Legislature and in Washington, D.C., teaches bicycle safety to thousands of Maine schoolchildren each year, partners with state agencies on a Share the Road media campaign and serves as a resource on local bicycling issues.

September 17, 2011
By Emma Bouthillette ebouthillette@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

BY EMMA BOUTHILLETTE; The Portland Press Herald

Pedestrians and bicyclists are welcome, but as construction wraps up on the latest section of the Eastern Trail, ATV riders are being reminded to stay off the pathway.

Reports of recent ATV use on new sections of the Eastern Trail in York County have prompted Facebook warnings and new signs on the trail to remind users that ATVs and snowmobiles aren’t allowed.

The newest section of the trail, from Saco to Old Orchard Beach, will be ready for use by mid-November.

“Snowmobiles and ATVs just gravitate to these things as a great spot to recreate. … That’s perfectly understandable,” said Bob Hamblen, vice president and treasurer of the Eastern Trail Alliance.

In fact, motor vehicles weren’t allowed on that land before it became part of the Eastern Trail.

Most of the Eastern Trail is on land owned by Unitil, which has always forbidden ATV and snowmobile use, but rarely enforced it. Most of the trail is part of the natural gas pipeline corridor and needs to be remain properly covered, Unitil spokesman Alec O’Meara said.

“ATVs can move dirt around and can create ruts. While pedestrians won’t really have an impact, ATV use can cause a maintenance issue,” O’Meara said.

And as more people are walking and biking the Eastern Trail, the ban on motorized vehicles is an increasingly important safety issue, trail backers say.

Eastern Trail officials say it’s a problem they’ve faced before.

When a new mile-and-a-half section opened in Old Orchard Beach about three years ago, it was frequently used by ATV and snowmobile riders who had been used to riding in the area.

The Alliance got help from the Old Orchard Beach Police Department and followed vehicle tracks back to individual homes to tell them they couldn’t ride on the trail. The education effort paid off, and there are few complaints today about motor vehicles using that section of trail, according to Lt. Tim Deluca.

“It was more of let’s get the message out and let the public know, educating the public it was not accessible for ATVs,” Deluca said.

Read the full article online here

Share this article:

SCARBOROUGH, Maine — I had not been on a bicycle in years and my weight had crept up along with my age. Those concerns evaporated with the early morning fog as soon as I got going.

It was easy pedaling on a 3-mile section of the Eastern Trail that cuts through the center of the Scarborough Marsh, a wildlife sanctuary just 15 minutes outside of Portland. My senses were awakened by the sight of a blue heron nestled among the marsh reeds, the piercing cries of seagulls overhead, and the smell of the stinging salt air as I watched an angler pull in a striper.

“We think it is a unique experience that one can encounter while on the most popular and visible section of the trail,’’ said Bob Hamblen, a vice president for the Eastern Trail Alliance. “You can come by on any given day and see birders, bird hunters during hunting season, fishermen, canoeists, runners, and bicyclists.’’

Seals have been seen swimming under the bridge that crosses the Dunstan River on the trail just off Pine Point Road. Eagles have been spotted.

“People come from all around the world to take in the habitat. There are countless birds and seals. It is a wildlife sanctuary and is protected by the State of Maine. It is dust free, smoke free, and fumes free,’’ said John Andrews, president of the alliance. “The marsh changes every hour as the sun goes across the clouds. It is just a beautiful place to go biking.’’

The trail through the marsh is one segment of the 65-mile trail that runs from Kittery to Portland, taking in eight lighthouses along the way. It is part of the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway that stretches from Key West, Fla., to Calais. The trail crossing the marsh begins on Eastern Road (off Black Point Road) and heading south, goes for 3 miles to Pine Point Road and then to Old Blue Point Road. There are parking lots for vehicles and kiosks where the trail intersects the roads. The trail was constructed from the abandoned railroad that was built in 1841. Over a span of more than a century, the line was operated by the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad, followed by the Eastern Railroad, and lastly, the Boston and Maine Railroad until the end of World War II.

Read the full article online here

Share this article:

Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 1:39 pm
By Duke Harrington dharrington@keepmecurrent.com

SCARBOROUGH – When John Andrews, 74, was a young boy growing up in Gardiner, he checked out every book on chess he could find at the Maine State Library in Augusta. That experience came in useful, he says, when it came time to piece together the easements needed to create the 69-mile-long Eastern Trail – a walking path designed to run from Kittery to Casco Bay. “The principles of chess apply to building this trail,” said Andrews, while walking Saturday in a section behind Scarborough’s Hillcrest Retirement Community, where he now lives. “Easements are such wonderful fun, and getting them, like chess, is a kind of war, full of tactics and strategy. You don’t start right out and go after the king, you’ve first got to get this little piece, and then that little piece.” Now, as president emeritus of the Eastern Trail Alliance, which he founded 14 years ago, Andrews is beginning to maneuver those pieces into checkmate. A $1.3 million bridge over Interstate 95 opened in August, and a 4.37-mile section of trail will link Saco and Old Orchard Beach “by Thanksgiving,” he says. That leaves just two small sections – in Biddeford and Scarborough – to finish

The trail’s end (for now) John Andrews, president emeritus of the Eastern Trail Alliance, sits where the Eastern Trail ends in Scarborough, at the old Eastern Railroad bridge over the Nonesuch River. Plans are under way to build a way to cross the river and close a 0.8-mile gap in the trail between the river and the South Portland city line. (Staff photo by Duke Harrington)

the trail from Kennebunk to South Portland’s Bug Light Park. When complete, the Eastern Trail will mark a significant connection in the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile-long trail linking Key West, Fla., to Calais, in Washington County.

The Scarborough gap, from the Nonesuch River to South Portland’s Wainwright Field complex, just over the town line, measures a mere 0.8 miles. But it could be one of the most difficult to build, given significant obstacles – in the form of rivers and railroads – that cross the path. Andrews says construction of that small slice could take up to three years and cost $3 million.

Last week, the Scarborough Town Council accepted a $150,000 grant that will get the ball rolling. Funneled from the feds through the Maine Department of Transportation, the money will pay for a study of how best to finish Scarborough’s section of the trail.

Read the full article on line here

Share this article: