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Grant Provides for Trails in Three Woods Areas

April 25, 2011 - Farmington — With a grant of $33,561, the Bonney Woods Corp. and the Farmington Village Corp. needs help from the community to improve trails on Powderhouse Hill. The trails include Bonney Woods, Flint Woods and Village Woods.


An informational and planning meeting for anyone interested, including trail users, neighbors and members of the two corporations will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, April 25, at the Homestead Bakery on Broadway. A social hour begins at 5 p.m.


After corporation members talked last year and decided the three woods are connected by trail users, the two corporations decided to try to manage them together as one park. They jointly applied for a grant from the Recreational Trails Program of the Maine Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands, said Buzz Davis, board president of the Bonney Woods Corp.


A 20 percent local match needs to be raised, but that doesn’t all have to be cash. Along with raising $4,500 in cash, the groups can count labor and donated materials, he said. The total project cost is $47,561.


The grant will pay for drainage and resurfacing in places. Designed for “people-powered” activities, such as walking and hiking, the trails can be vulnerable to heavy traffic, he said. The improvements also include clearing new trails, pruning existing trails, bridge and bench construction, signs and new kiosks at several access points.



People have taken it upon themselves to do some maintenance work, but volunteers are needed to help with the improvements, he said.


“I don’t know of many towns that have such an area so close to town, a lot of preserved natural area right in town,” he said Monday.


The Farmington Village Corp., the local water department, has nearly 80 acres with trails on the southwest end of Powderhouse Hill running from the reservoir down to Box Shop Hill, across Route 4 and down to Pike’s Field, he said.


Bonney Woods has about 10 acres off Anson Street and up the street is the trail head for Flint Woods, he said.


Plans include adding a half mile of new trails which contain some historic land features, including water wells that were part of the town’s original water system.


Adding an educational element to the trails highlighting the flora and fauna and wildlife habitat of the area is also part of the plan, he said.


During Monday’s meeting, plans for volunteer work days and methods to account for volunteer labor, donated materials and equipment use will be discussed.


The Bonney Woods Corp. was founded in 1908 when James H. Bonney created Bonney Woods through a bequest. In 1988, James P. Flint gifted the Flint Woods to the corporation that is governed by a 16-member board of directors who are all neighbors or have other ties to the woods.


The Farmington Village Corp.’s 1912 charter states in addition to its primary role as the Farmington Water Department, its purpose is owning and maintaining parks for the public to use. It is governed by a three-member Board of Assessors.


Ann Bryant, Sun Journal, April 2011


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