Island Heritage Trust to upgrade trails for more accessibility

Barred Island is one of two areas that will receive trail accessibility upgrades. Map courtesy of Island Heritage Trust.

December 19, 2025

By Steele Hays

DEER ISLE–Island Heritage Trust (IHT) has won a $250,000 grant from the state to upgrade two of its trails on Deer Isle to make them accessible for visitors with disabilities and others with mobility challenges. The trail upgrades at Barred Island Preserve and Lily Pond Preserve are made possible due to a $30 million fund Maine voters created last year for outdoor recreation improvements.

The grant is part of the first round of funding awarded by the state under the new Maine Trails Program, which was approved by voters in 2024. In the first round, $7.5 million was awarded to 44 projects selected from 108 applications representing municipalities and nonprofit organizations from 15 of Maine’s 16 counties. The award recipients were announced Dec. 11.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Alex Drenga, conservation director of IHT, said in an interview.

Drenga and IHT land steward Eli Forman collaborated on the winning grant application. 

The Barred Island Preserve is one of IHT’s most popular trails, drawing 15,000 visitors last year. 

With the grant, IHT will upgrade 1,304 feet of the Barred Island trail, about a quarter of the total trail length, to provide a six-foot-wide, packed gravel surface that will make the trail usable by visitors in wheelchairs and those with other mobility challenges. The trail will be rerouted in several areas, and a new viewing platform will allow visitors to observe a wetland bog that is home to several rare plants.

IHT hopes to upgrade additional sections of the trail in the future, but it would be extremely difficult to provide handicapped access all the way to Barred Island due to the rugged and steep topography near the shore, Drenga said. 

At Lily Pond, approximately 3,000 feet of the Quaco Road and Deer Run Trails will be improved and made handicapped accessible. Two picnic tables allowing wheelchair visitor use will also be added. 

IHT will be seeking bids from contractors and hopes to break ground in late spring or early summer and complete the work in 2026. 

Created by the Maine Legislature and approved by voters as Question 4 on the November 2024 ballot, the $30 million Maine Trails bond created the Maine Trails Program, a statewide initiative dedicated to support the design, construction, and rehabilitation of trails for outdoor recreation. Through 2034, the program will award up to $7.5 million each year, leveraging at least $3 million per year in matching public and private contributions.