By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Many land preservation projects rely on grants for the majority of the cost. 

Once the grant money is secured, people and businesses in the region make up the remainder of the required finances by adding to the fundraising pool. 

In the case of raising approximately $120,000 to construct a trail that is handicap accessible at Pondicherry Park, the people in the community donated more money than the total amount of grants.

More than half of the funds were donated by local residents, according to Loon Echo Land Trust Executive Director Matt Markot.

“We raised more than $70,000 from people in Bridgton to make this project a reality,” he said. “A significant amount of those financial resources were made in the memory of JoAnne Diller. This park would not be here without JoAnne Diller. We are really proud to be able to honor her legacy and speak to her belief of the outdoors and access to the outdoors.” 

Half of the $70,000 in donations was in memory of Diller. An enthusiastic advocate of the outdoors, Diller passed away on May 27, 2021. 

These are the amounts broken down:

• $70,000 from the local community ($35,000 of that was donated in memory of JoAnne Diller)

• $50,000 from State of Maine Recreational Trails Program (RTP)

• $15,000 from Athletic Brewing Company, through the “Two for the Trails” grant program

Markot spoke about the fundraising piece during a ribbon-cutting event for the trail on Thursday morning.

The RTP provided $50,000 of the funding; and RTP representative Doug Beck spoke about how that funding works.

This state program gets its revenue through a tax on motorized off-road vehicles such as snowmobiles, dirt bikes and four-wheelers, Beck explained. A percentage of that tax goes toward trail maintenance and construction of non-motorized trails like Pondicherry Park, he said. 

“Unfortunately, about one-third of the estimated revenue, actually gets to the RTP,” he said. “We do about 9 to 15 awards annually. We never have enough money to give to all the deserving projects.” 

Another funding source is a business that in the past two years has donated about $2 million to various non-profits that create and protect trails in the United States. Athletic Brewing Company, based out of Stratford, Conn., made a $15,000 donation, Markot said. 

“I don’t know if they know where Bridgton is,” he quipped. “But they believed in the project and in this trail.”