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Select Board authorizes LWCF grant application to fund Ragged Mountain trails and a Snow Bowl parking lot paving
Summary
Parks director Jeff Nathan won board approval to submit a Land and Water Conservation Fund application seeking funds to build beginner and intermediate trails at Ragged Mountain and to pave the Snow Bowl parking lot; the project depends on two other grant applications to serve as matching funds.
Jeff Nathan, director of Parks and Recreation, asked the Select Board for authorization to submit an application to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to support multi‑season improvements at the Ragged Mountain Recreation Area.
The application covers two primary elements: construction of roughly six miles of new and improved beginner/intermediate multi‑use trails below the double chairlift, and paving and striping of the Snow Bowl parking lot to improve accessibility and reduce gravel runoff into Hosmer Brook. Nathan said an estimate to pave the lot is about $38,000 and that the trail build cost for the lower network is approximately $450,000.
Nathan told the board the LWCF submission will be paired with two other grant requests — the Main Destinations Planning & Development (MDPD) grant (to fund wayfinding, trail counters and an environmental assessment) and the Maine Trails Program (for trail construction) — and that, if successful, the combination should fund the trail work and parking improvements.
Board members asked whether endorsing the LWCF application implicitly endorses longer‑term plans produced by a consultant (SE Group). Nathan clarified the LWCF request is focused on the short‑term trail and parking scope; other, longer‑term SE Group concepts would remain subject to separate public review. He also described environmental safeguards: the MDPD grant would support a trail‑corridor environmental assessment and avoid impacts to vernal pools and wetlands.
The board voted to authorize him to submit the LWCF application.
What’s next: If the grant is accepted, staff will return with specific contract terms and a project schedule and will coordinate required environmental review and public outreach.
