AUBURN — The City of Auburn received notice recently that a Recreational Trails Program grant application for a trail in New Auburn was selected by the Maine Trails Advisory Committee. The Recreational Trails Program is sponsored by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Parks and Lands and helps communities with trail funding.

The $34,000 grant award from the State will be used to improve and widen sidewalks, construct a multi-use trail and parking area that will link the Barker Mill Trail to the New Auburn Center as part of the New Auburn Greenway. The trail connection will provide a safe and scenic connection for residents of the Barker Arms Apartment and expand a larger, planned trail system for the Auburn and Lewiston area.

The City has been partnering with the Androscoggin Land Trust, which holds the license to use the Barker Mill Trail and Mike Auger, ALT executive director trust, said, “We are very pleased that the City of Auburn’s application to expand ALT’s existing Barker Mill Trail was recently funded. We look forward to continuing to work with the City on this important project which will further the Androscoggin Greenway Plan of connecting trails and open spaces to local communities.”

Trails are gaining interest and use in Auburn and Belinda Gerry, a New Auburn resident and at-large City Council member, supported the grant application, saying, “Auburn residents have made it quite clear that having these various trails are an important part of a healthy community and what better way to preserve what we have than to make it a focal point. For Auburn it happens to be our natural resources by improving the Barker Mill Trail and improving access to it along the Little Androscoggin River.”

Council Member Leroy Walker echoed this sentiment, “By expanding the trail system into New Auburn, we’ll provide an opportunity to have a walking area along the Little Androscoggin River, a very beautiful area. By bringing more people into the area, businesses will see increased sales, and everyone will benefit.”

Project Manager and City Planner, Doug Greene is counting on the community support to move forward with construction later this year once an agreement is in place with the State. Greene said, “This project also has a benefit of partnering with the Land Trust on trail maintenance and coordinating with Kruger Energy, owner of the Lower Barker Dam, to make dam-related infrastructure improvements during construction.”