Jay’s ‘Apple Blossom Trail’ Gets Some TLC

This June, Jay’s ‘Apple Blossom Trail’ received some much needed TLC and the problem spot on the trail was transformed from a muddy mess to a much more sustainable trail that the community will use for years to come. The Town of Jay was the recipient of the Maine Trails Coalition’s “Ugly Duckling” contest, which was focused on drawing attention and funding to the backlog of maintenance facing many of Maine’s trails. The award was for a trail assessment and one week of fieldwork from the Maine Conservation Corps - valued at $5,000.

The trails in Jay are open to the public and are utilized as an outdoor classroom for elementary, middle and high schools. The property features several forest types, streams and a meadow habitat, and nested within is an adventure course, a student-managed woodlot, and more.

The trail system is maintained by a small, core group of volunteers who worked with the Maine Conservation Corps Field Team Program Manager, Lindsay May, and crew leaders to identify the areas they needed help improving. They identified two initial problem spots, but narrowed it down to focus on the lower portion of the Apple Blossom Trail- a perpetually wet spot and a main access point to the Jay Recreation Area Trail System.

During the week of June 13th, the Maine Conservation Corps crew and volunteers worked to improve the tread and drainage of the Apple Blossom Trail. Together they:

• Started with a mucky, poor draining section of trail, approximately 16 cubic yards of 3/4” gravel material, and 100’ x 6’ of geotextile fabric.

• Found and quarried various sized rocks, resulting in 140-160 linear feet of rock edging, lined with geotextile fabric to separate the mucky soil beneath the fabric from new surface, and assist in drainage.

• Used a power wheelbarrow to haul the gravel closer to the work site. Thankfully the field dried out and the gravel was able to be delivered much closer to the trailhead.

• Swatted a thousand mosquitos (if not more) by week’s end.

• Transformed the trail into a more sustainable surface by building an 80’ long x 8’ wide turnpike. A turnpike is a trail feature that raises the tread, thus allowing water to flow off and not pool in the trail.

• Check out the before, during and after photos below.

The MCC crew consisted of 7-10 members. Crew leaders were drawn to Maine from all over the US including Texas, Kansas and Illinois. A Spruce Mountain High School teacher and 3 students volunteered, as well as 5 additional volunteers from Jay and MTC, committing 20+ hours of labor to the project.

Shiloh LaFreniere, the Jay Town Manager is grateful for the project, stating, "the Ugly Duckling Contest was a perfect incentive for us to go out and identify the problem areas where we could use help at the Jay Recreation Area trails. Having the funds and the MCC crew will get us further along in making larger trail improvements than we have capacity to do. We have a great, small crew of trail volunteers, who were so pleased to have MCC come work on this project with us!"

The Maine Trails Coalition will continue to provide opportunities for trail maintaining organizations to receive assistance and funding in maintaining neglected and/or underfunded trails to a more sustainable standard.

Currently, MTC is encouraging those that want to volunteer on trails to participate in Love Maine Trails Month - a month aimed to harness the collective power of Maine’s organizations and volunteers to engage in critical trail work projects caring for the trails we love here in Maine. 

Special thanks to those that made the project possible: The Onion Foundation, The Quimby Family Foundation, the Maine Conservation Corps field team and crew, the Town of Jay, Randy Easter, Don Leclerc and Jeff Meserve, Jay Department of Public Works, RSU73 Buildings and Grounds staff, Rob Taylor and students Daniel, Sam, and Abram, and anyone else who was able to pitch in!

• Check out Jay’s trails on Maine Trailfinder.

• In case you missed it, here’s a great article about the project from the Sun Journal.

Before

During - MCC crew working on the trail with a dog marking the wet spot they are working toward

After - the project at near completion state.

Below Image Slider: The MCC Crew at work