JAY — A crew from the Maine Conservation Corps were busy Wednesday raising the Apple Blossom Trail about 5 inches to make it accessible year-round.

They have been working all week on the project and will finish Friday. Volunteers from the community have also pitched in to help.

The team refers to the trail as the “turnpike.”

“It was kind of a muddy section of the trail,” assistant team leader Noah Ventimiglia of Maryland said. “We are halfway through the gravel process.”

While some members were digging up rocks to edge the trail, others placed rocks and made sure they stayed in place. Ventimiglia was raking dirt on the sides of the trail to keep it at the raised height.

They were also putting down geo fabric to stop erosion.

“We are raising the trail so it allows for water to flow off of the trail better,” he said.

The team was working on about 80 feet of one of the trails behind the softball field at Spruce Mountain High School. The town, with the help of volunteers, has developed a multi-trail system on its recreation property. The Apple Blossom Trail is used for cross-country running and skiing, among other activities and to access more trails.

“This grant is allowing us to complete a project that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise because of the amount of people needed,” Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere wrote in an email Thursday. “It will make the Apple Blossom Trail passable year round and provide better access to the network of trails that run from the (Regional School Unit 73) property up through the town’s rec area. These trails are an incredible asset to our community and receiving the grant and assistance to improve them is really appreciated.”

In 2020, Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments announced that Maine Trails Coalition was taking applications for their first Ugly Duckling contest to raise awareness and focus on trails that need to be rebuilt and restored with a little tender loving care.

“I reached out to our trails volunteers (Randy Easter, Don Leclerc and Jeff Meserve) to see if they had any trails that they thought could benefit from this grant, which included a trail/project assessment and a week of field work by a crew of people. Randy took some pictures and I put the information together for the grant,” LaFreniere wrote.

The Onion Foundation of Auburn announced in April 2021 the town was being awarded a grant in the amount of $5,000 for winning the 2021 Ugly Duckling Trail Competition offered by the Maine Trail Coalition.

A portion of this award is restricted to paying Maine Conservation Corps for their crew and work time. A year ago, the current costs for a six-person team was $4,150. The town was able to use remaining funds to support any additional costs incurred through the trail improvement project, including equipment rental, materials and supplies, or contractor/staff time.

Jay is also paying for a portion of the project.

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