AUGUSTA – The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands is taking grant applications for outdoor recreational facilities through the Land and Water Conservation Fund program.

The program, administered by the Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, can provide 50 percent matching grants to qualified applicants who meet the July 31 deadline, according to Bud Newell, the bureau’s program manager for its Grants and Community Recreation Division. Applicants may ask for a maximum of $25,000 in federal funding.

Newell said Tuesday by phone in Augusta that grants were originally capped at $50,000 because the program was receiving $900,000 annually. But last year Congress cut the amount to $275,000, forcing the state to set a $25,000 cap.

“We were lucky to get $275,000, because there was pressure in (Washington, D.C.) to zero the program out entirely, but Congress was able to salvage it,” Newell said.

He said he’s optimistic that the money will be there again this year, and should know before the end of July.

Newell said Maine has had about 800 projects funded since the program’s inception in 1965.

He recalled nine projects in Auburn, including the Auburn Middle School park, a skating rink, the East Auburn tennis courts, the Edward Little Recreational Complex, and Mount Apatite trails; and six in Lewiston, such as Sunnyside Park, the Randall Roads softball fields, and the Kennedy Park Pool.

Other area projects include tennis courts in Norway, a skateboard park in Paris, Riverbank Park in Rumford and the Rumford Recreational Area. Additionally, Newell said Rumford also had a Riverside Park project approved in 2005 and $50,000 set aside for it, but nothing had yet been done with it.

This year’s grant round will provide for the distribution of federal funds to Maine from the National Park Service.

Funds available to municipalities and other governmental organizations to buy land for outdoor recreation, construction of new facilities, and renovation of existing facilities is estimated to be approximately $125,000.

After a month-long review process, applicants will be notified in September as to whether their grants were approved, Newell added.

Applications must be received by the bureau, or postmarked on or before the July 31 deadline, to be considered for funding.

For more information, phone 287-4962, or e-mail [email protected], visit http://www.state.me.us/doc/parks/programs/community/lwgrants.html, or write: Grants and Community Recreation Division of the Bureau of Parks and Lands, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333.