SKOWHEGAN — Christopher White, standing in what was once a hayfield tucked behind a shopping plaza, calls the all-terrain vehicle trail that is now there a center point for riding.
White, the trail master for the local ATV club, points out a new bridge to the south built last year that brings the trail over a brook to the woods. From there, ATVs can get into downtown and — in an ideal world — also head west to Norridgewock, where riders can access the state’s 41-mile Kennebec Valley rail trail.
In the other direction, riders can go to Ken’s Restaurant and neighboring businesses on Madison Avenue, and White hopes they can continue soon onto another trail providing a connection to Cornville and a vast network of trails beyond.
“It’s great,” White said. “People are loving it. It’s one of our most popular trails.”
The Skowvegas Trail, as it is known, is also one of the only ATV trails in town. But leaders of the Skowhegan Stump Jumpers ATV Club are working to draw more riders to town by expanding the system, which today is a patchwork of paved roads open to ATVs and a few miles of off-road trails.
The efforts, however, have come with issues with landowners and concerns about public safety, common themes in other rural Maine communities that have tried to welcome ATV riders.
Case in point: A landowner recently closed a direct connection to Norridgewock that the Stump Jumpers and the neighboring club in Norridgewock worked to open this summer.
That means the only way to get to the rail trail in Norridgewock, a popular major north-south artery, is a lengthy loop to the north of Skowhegan. To get from the north side of Skowhegan to the south side, riders have to do the same.
White, who became trail master for the Stump Jumpers in 2023, points to the Skowvegas Trail as a success story for getting a landowner to buy in. He said when he first approached the owner of the parcel behind the Skowhegan Village shopping plaza, Darrell Blodgett, the answer was a clear, “No way.”
White eventually got permission, and even assistance with bringing in truckloads of dirt to build the trail. The shopping plaza owner also agreed to let riders use the vast parking lot as a park-and-ride.
White said he deals with about 50 landowners in the 4 or 5 miles of off-road trails the club oversees.
“A lot of it is just talking to people, and trying to get them to understand what an ATV trail can do for business in Skowhegan,” White said.
White took over as trail master of the Stump Jumpers in 2023, and his wife, Joanna White, became president. At the time, the club had no trails and was talking about disbanding, Christopher White said.
“At that point, I was told, ‘Good luck. Skowhegan will never have a trail. Landowners don’t want them,’” White recalled. “I was like: ‘Mission accepted!’”
The Stump Jumpers had permission to open a handful of paved town roads to ATV traffic, but it did not have the money to put up required signage to open them, White said. A few people chipped in with their own money to buy the signs.
The select board, earlier in 2023, had granted ATV access on Russell Road, from the state fairgrounds to Bennett Avenue; Bennett Avenue, from Russell Road to Pleasant Street; Pleasant Street, west to Norridgewock Avenue and east to Madison Avenue; High Street, from Madison Avenue to the municipal parking lot; and Norridgewock Avenue west to the town line.
On the south side, the board also granted access on Burrill Hill Road, from Norridgewock to Bigelow Hill Road, and Bigelow Hill Road, from Burrill Hill Road to Norridgewock.
The goal, leaders of the club told town officials then, was to tap into an activity growing in popularity and try to bring people into Skowhegan from neighboring trail systems.
This year, White got additional approval to open High Street from the municipal parking lot to North Avenue, North Avenue from High Street to Molunkus Road and Molunkus Road north to Cornville. Opening North Avenue, also known as Route 150, required the state to sign off.
Effectively, the route for traffic traveling west to east, or east to west, through Skowhegan takes ATVs downtown.
The select board, when approving the North Avenue connections in June, discussed possible safety and liability issues but largely agreed that welcoming ATV traffic would be an economic benefit worth the risk to try. Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam has often expressed his concerns about road safety and the possibility of serious crashes.
The debate is not unique to Skowhegan. The Somerset County commissioners, for example, rejected an application to open the Lake Moxie Road in The Forks due to safety concerns. They instead decided to help the ATV club there with funding for off-road trail improvements.
The Stump Jumpers are now working on a new trail east from Madison Avenue to North Avenue, near the Northgate Industrial Park, that would divert some crosstown traffic from making the trip downtown. White said he hopes it will be finished later this month.
The projects the club has completed so far have been funded by state grants, which are funded by ATV registration fees, and donations. All the trail work is done by volunteers, including White. The club spent a $30,000 state grant last year and is spending down another $30,000 grant this year, White said.
Kristina Cannon, president and CEO of the economic revitalization nonprofit Main Street Skowhegan, said her organization has not done much outreach to determine the exact impact of welcoming ATV traffic to town.
But Main Street Skowhegan is excited to work with the Stump Jumpers to bring more people to Skowhegan’s businesses, she said. Cannon said she is inspired by Moab, Utah, and Gorham, New Hampshire, two communities that have capitalized on motorized and nonmotorized recreation.
“ATVs are definitely part of the greater outdoor recreation hub vision for the Skowhegan region,” Cannon said. “As we work to elevate our reputation as a place for people to recreate, we’re excited to welcome all different types of activities.”
Cannon praised the club for its initiative this year to encourage riders to patronize local establishments through business “passports.” Participants bring the booklet to two dozen participating businesses, get a stamp from each and then can enter a drawing for a prize at the end of the season.
“I don’t care if people do it on an ATV or in their car,” White said. “It’s all about getting people to go through the door of a small business somewhere.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Jake Freudberg can be reached at jfreudberg@centralmaine.com.