NORWAY — An accessible entrance and ramp for the Roberts Farm Preserve warming hut is under construction.

Lee Dassler of the Western Foothills Land Trust said a $4,000 grant from L.L. Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program is being used to build the ramp and deck.

The 16- by 36-foot structure has two unheated bays for storing equipment, such as track setters and groomers, and a third insulated bay with a small wood stove. It is being utilized by cross-country skiers, hikers and others who use the preserve’s trail system year round.

Dassler said the ramp will provide universal access to the hut, and the deck will allow for an additional gathering area. A second egress to and from the warming hut is important for after-school ski programs, she said.

The Paris Elementary School after-school ski program begins Jan. 10.

“It would be great to get it done before then,” Dassler said Tuesday.

Dassler said the anticipated costs for the ramp and deck exceed $14,000, so the Trust has undertaken a timber stand improvement harvest on the southern portion of the Preserve and will use funds from the harvest to augment any grants and directed donations that are received.

Shawn Kane and Scott Vlaun have put the piers from the deck in place before the frost came so that they could continue construction as weather allows.

The warming hut was designed earlier this year by Vlaun and Kane, a local timber framer and builder, in order to accommodate the Trust’s equipment and program needs for the newly completed trail system.

ldixon@sunjournal.com