LIMESTONE, Maine – Thanks to major grant funding, Limestone’s ATV club will soon repair a section of their trail system that has needed upgrades for many years.
This fall the Limestone Trail Hawks received $12,675 from the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative Program, which supports projects to improve recreational trails and other outdoor opportunities. The grant will cover labor, equipment and materials needed to restore a one-mile section of the Grass Farm Trail.
The Limestone Trail Hawks formed two years ago to better serve ATV riders in Limestone, noted club president Chris King. But local riders had dealt with washouts and rough patches on the Grass Farm Trail far longer.
“It’s one of the roughest parts of the trail system,” King said. “We’ll be adding culverts and filling in ditches. We’ve had a huge problem with riders getting stuck in the mud and going on landowners’ property [to avoid the mud].”
The Limestone-based Williams Trucking & Construction will also raise the trail by at least a foot and a half to avoid a huge washout in the event of major rain.
Though restoration work has been delayed a week due to rain, King expects construction to begin later this week and finish by late October.
The Limestone Trail Hawks has 34 active members, several of whom regularly maintain the club’s 23-mile trail system. By restoring the Grass Farm Trail, the club hopes to help riders avoid landowners’ properties and take advantage of Limestone businesses.
“Right now people tend to go off the trail and bypass us but [with the restoration] more people should end up going into Limestone,” King said.
LIMESTONE, Maine — September 2022 — The Limestone Trail Hawks have received a $12,675 grant from the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative Program to repair a one-mile section of the Grass Farm Trail, which riders have long avoided due to excess mud. (Courtesy of Limestone Trail Hawks)
