In western Maine, a suite of new programs and investments aims to help residents get engaged in outdoor activities with a focus on health, wellness, and recreation.

The regional coalition known as Maine West, a partnership of local and regional organizations dedicated to positioning rural western Maine communities as viable and attractive places to live, work, do business, and raise families, has provided more than $70,000 to create new outing and recreation programs to serve residents.

Projects include creating new maps of expanded local trail networks, running two outdoor recreation challenges that will raise funds for local youth programs, hiring a regional education director for Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center, piloting a program to help local youth prepare for employment in the outdoor recreation field, and launching a series of programs to engage youth, seniors, and people recovering from substance use disorder in healthy outdoor activity.

Funding for these projects comes from a combination of support from the Betterment Fund and a Rural Community Development Initiative grant from the US Department of Agriculture secured by the Northern Forest Center, which coordinates the Maine West effort. The Maine West funding is helping to leverage an additional $60,000 in support from the University of Maine, Stephen’s Memorial Hospital and the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

“Maine West partners all agree on the value of outdoor recreation as a vehicle for improving local health, education, and economic outcomes in western Maine,” said Mike Wilson, senior program director for the Northern Forest Center. “Each of these programs is valuable on its own, but when you consider the cumulative positive effect of the programs together and the potential for them to grow over time, it’s very exciting for the Maine West region,” said Wilson.

The Maine West region includes 27 towns in northern Oxford County, Maine, including the Oxford Hills, River Valley, and Bethel areas. Specific Maine West-supported projects include:

River Valley Outings

The new activities include a trio of outdoor recreation programs in the River Valley region that will engage high school students, older adults, and people at risk of or recovering from substance use disorder. Maine West members River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition and Oxford County Wellness Collaborative designed these programs in collaboration with other local groups:

• Maine West is partnering with RSU10 and Mountain Valley High School Outing Club to deliver a series of intensive skill-based workshops to students who will learn canoeing and mountain biking skills and test their training during two overnight camping experiences. For this year’s pilot program, teachers recommended students they thought would enjoy learning outdoor skills but might not have the opportunity to attend a traditional summer camp. The school and Maine West hope that the program can be expanded in future years.
• People 50 and over can participate in a series of Wellness Walks offered in two 6-week series, with walks taking place Wednesday evenings in summer and fall.
• A third programs serves adults in recovery from substance use disorder with a 16-week series of scheduled and supported outdoor activities.

2022 Second Nature Adventure Challenge

Maine West is delivering two Second Nature Adventure Challenges in 2022, enticing people to earn donations for local youth programs by getting active outdoors. The seasonal Challenges enable participants to track a wide range of activities including everything from hiking, biking and walking to swimming, fishing, and skating, skiing and sledding. In the Winter Challenge, more than 800 participants logged their outings over school vacation week in February to secure $3,750 for the Bethel Recreation Department, Chisholm Ski Club, and Oxford Hills Outing Club.

The Summer Challenge will run from July 4 through Indigenous People’s Day in October. Beneficiaries have not been selected yet, but three programs will be eligible for at least $2,000 if the Challenge is successful. Maine West member the Oxford County Wellness Collaborative manages the adventure challenge. Since 2020, Second Nature Adventure Challenges have raised more than $18,000 for local non-profits groups.

Maine West Education Director

With funding from Maine West and other sources, Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center has hired Beth Clarke as its Education Director. Clarke has more than 20 years’ experience as an educational leader in Western Maine public schools. She is also a statewide leader in the effort to integrate nature-based learning into public education. As Maine West Education Director, Clarke works strategically with schools across the region to build resilience, develop community-connected curricula, and raise educational aspirations and attainment.

Maine West Teen Outdoor Recreation Workforce Pilot

Maine West members are working together this summer to create a new Outdoor Recreation Workforce pilot to support local businesses and nonprofits and prepare youth in the SAD#44 School District for employment in the outdoor recreation field. The program will provide support and on-the-job training and skill-building that connects young people with mentoring, logistics, and other support to help them engage in outdoor recreation work experiences over the summer. Students participating in Bryant Pond’s North Star program will be explicitly encouraged to participate. The program is managed by Bryant Pond’s Maine West Education Director with administrative support from the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce.

Warm Weather Recreation Map

Maine West provided funding to create a new regional trail map for warm-weather recreational activities in the Maine West region. Investment in new trail development in the region in the past few years has opened vast new tracts of lands with durable, high-quality recreation trails. The new trails offer a range of recreation opportunities for people of all ability levels, and include mountain biking, hiking, Universally Accessible, and water trails. Inland Woods & Trails, Western Foothills Land Trust, and the Mahoosuc Land Trust are leading this project. Partner organization will distribute 5,000 maps in map boxes at trailheads, and some will be available at the region’s Chambers of Commerce and some businesses.

Update to Maine West GIS Conservation Planning Tool

The members of Maine West share and depend on a Conservation Planning Tool created by the Trust for Public Land that helps them make preliminary evaluations of potential conservation and recreation projects, and to see the potential of specific conservation projects to advance priorities of Maine West as a whole and of the individual members. Maine West is funding an upgrade of the Conservation Planning Tool to improve accuracy and usability and will include updated data about parcel ownership and conservation lands and improve ability to create new overlays.

The Maine West coalition formed in 2015, when the trustees of the Betterment Fund challenged a group of local, state, and regional organizations to work across the conservation, education, health, and economic sectors to position rural western Maine communities as viable and attractive places to live, work, do business, and raise families.