The region welcomes people who start new businesses, such as Hub North in Gorham, NH. (Ian MacLellan photo)
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The Center Builds Active Communities for Healthy Living

The Northern Forest’s vast landscape provides endless outdoor activities.

The Center works to increase high-quality recreation opportunities and amenities available to residents and visitors. Whether it’s building trails for mountain biking, adding signage, or developing fun hiking challenges for all ages, the Center encourages everyone to get active outside and build healthy communities.

Creating the Best Local Mountain Biking Trails

The Center is helping nine trail networks expand the quality and variety of mountain biking experiences across the region.

Destination Development Grant Program

Grants from the Northern Forest Destination Development Program will fund trail construction, remote paddling opportunities, waterfront parks, accessible trails, and more.

Rethinking Recreation as a Community Resource

The Adirondack Community Recreation Alliance seeks to leverage recreation assets and the region’s recreation-rich culture to secure long-lasting community and economic benefits for Adirondack towns and villages.

A Challenge with a Payoff

The Second Nature Adventure Challenge encourages people in Western Maine to be active outdoors, and in 2020 the program added a fundraising incentive to address food insecurity heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Attracting and Retaining Residents in the Adirondacks

We’ve developed a strategy for Adirondack communities to attract new residents who are eager to contribute to the community.

Discover Mountain Biking in the Northern Forest

Children learn to mountain bike at one of the Bike Borderlands destinations

Bike Borderlands Debuts Video Series

The Center and its Bike Borderlands partners created a series of short films to celebrate exciting mountain biking opportunities and community life in nine Northern Forest towns.

Mountain bikers at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center stop of the Tour de Borderlands

Borderlands Mountain Bike Collaboration

The Northern Forest’s geological formations, rolling hills and thick forest landscapes make the region an excellent place to mountain bike.

Bike Borderlands Debuts Video Series

Want to Learn More? Sign up for Community updates

Receive updates about building active communities, grant opportunities, and other community program work across the region. Sign up here!

Other Programs

Elevating Outdoor Recreation

The Center goes beyond enhancing recreation amenities to help communities build their destination appeal for current and future residents, and for visitors.

Recent Highlights

Learn More

Creating Community Forests

Community Forests can provide multiple benefits to towns, from outdoor education sites to resource conservation to recreation to revenue from forest harvests.

Recent Highlights

Creating Community Forests

Staff Contacts

photo of Maura Adams

Maura Adams

Director of Community Investment
Cell: 603-545-9629