BELFAST — A grant from the Maine Community Foundation has enabled the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition (BBWC) to purchase enough cedar planks to replace most of the 180 aging and breaking bog bridges along the five-mile trail through Belfast.

A team of volunteers from the Waldo County Reentry Center has been busy helping BBWC’s Trail Crew carry the planks into place all along the trail, which runs from the Belfast Water District on Rt. 1 to the University of Maine Hutchinson Center.

Started at the turn of the current century, the first mile went from the Water District to the Perkins Road. In 2005, a Project Canopy grant from the Maine Forest Service allowed BBWC to extend the trail to the Walsh Ball Fields on Rt. 52. Students from Troy Howard Middle School helped with the project.

The final stretch to the Hutchinson Center was built with BBWC funds. The trail has been continuously maintained by the Belfast Bay Watershed Trail Crew, founded by Skip Pendleton and currently headed up by David Bond and Bill Armstrong.

“Our community enjoys the trail due to the generosity of private landowners, the City of Belfast, Waldo County, and the Belfast Water District,” said Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition, in a news release. “The new bridges will continue its enjoyment.”