Dover Foxcroft: Commissioners Give Money to AT Restoration

By Diana Bowley, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Apr. 4–DOVER-FOXCROFT — Every year, the federal government cuts a check to Piscataquis County in lieu of taxes on Appalachian Trail property that meanders through the Unorganized Territory.

The county typically receives about $18,000 a year from the federal government because the largest Maine portion of the trail is in Piscataquis County.

Until last year, the contribution from the federal government was placed into the general fund of the Unorganized Territory budget. As such, the money helped cover the operational costs of cemeteries, road maintenance, and fire and police protection in the unorganized areas.

Since the trail is a big part of Piscataquis County’s nature-based tourism, commissioners agreed Tuesday, as they did last year, to reinvest a significant portion of those funds back into the trail.

As approved, $10,166 will go to the Maine Appalachian Trail Club for two weeks of restoration work, and $2,000 will be used for the Gulf Hagas Ridgerunner AT hiker education program.

The Ridgerunner program, also known as the caretaker program in Gulf Hagas, helps pay for a person to be on site in the region to provide information to the approximately 6,000 hikers and visitors to that region each year. The program also works to minimize accidents by educating hikers on the difficulties involved in Gulf Hagas, collects hiker data, conducts trail maintenance and monitors campsites.

Last year, the commissioners donated $1,000 of the federal funds to Monson since the trail goes through that community. Monson receives about $1,600 a year from the federal government in lieu of taxes from the trail property.

Don Stack, Maine Appalachian Trail Club president, advised the commissioners in a letter that work done last year included the reconstruction of 200 feet of a moderately steep, eroding section on the north slope of Whitecap Mountain; construction of a 74-step stone staircase at Nahmakanta Stream; and the stabilization of steep slopes along the west branch of the Piscataquis River through the replacement of rotting timber retaining logs with stone retaining walls.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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