Aroostook County, p. 2

By Ron Bergin

Nordic skiing also went into decline and, with little money available, numerous ski areas closed. At the same time – across Maine and the U.S. – people were becoming more sedentary and less interested in the outdoors. Snowmobiling overtook skiing as the dominant winter activity in Maine.

Something needed to be done to turn things around, both economically and culturally, in northern Maine. It was reasoned that enhanced tourism could boost the area’s faltering economy and cross country skiing was tapped to be a means to this end.

The Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.

Enter the Libra Foundation, based in Portland, Maine, and the creation of the Maine Winter Sports Center. The Maine Winter Sports Center is far more than a single center, location or program. It is more of a foundation, created to oversee the rebirth of cross country skiing in Aroostook County and other parts of Maine. Its mission included the creation and support of venues, events and educational programs as a new economic model to improve life in northern Maine.

The Libra Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation created by Elizabeth Noyce in 1989 to support worthy causes in the state of Maine. The foundation tries to maintain a balance and diversity of giving throughout Maine and across all populations. According to foundation president and CEO, Owen Wells, the foundation emphasizes “giving in a way that encourages long-term economic benefits for the citizens of Maine.”

The Libra Foundation’s support in 1999 helped launch the Maine Winter Sports Center. Since its inception, the MWSC has received annual support from the Libra Foundation ranging from $465,000 to over $5 million and totaling more than $20 million since 1999.

The Maine Winter Sports Center has a multi-tier structure

intended to support community programs, competitive programs, venues, events and alpine community ski areas. The original model included working with local clubs and volunteers to build cross country ski trails at all schools in Aroostook County. This has, to a degree, been accomplished.

In addition, MWSC provides the schools with a skiing curriculum, a coaches education program and skis for anyone who needs them. The center has two trailers with 70 of sets of skis, boots and poles that are transported to area schools, as well as a total of 2,000 pairs of skis in southern and western Maine. The MWSC has provided trail grooming equipment (a snowmobile and grooming attachment) to several area schools and ski centers.

All told, MWSC has put over 5,000 kids on skis in 34 communities around the state. As these youth moved on to high school, some schools reintroduced skiing into their athletic programs and for those interested students, MWSC began offering top-level coaching and developed training facilities for both cross country and biathlon.

Working with local ski clubs, community groups, businesses and volunteers, the MWSC helped facilitate the construction of two state-of-the-art facilities in Aroostook County: the 10th Mountain Center in Fort Kent and the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle. Both are designed and equipped for cross country and biathlon, and licensed for international competition by the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the International Biathlon Union (IBU). Other facilities in southern Maine – Pineland Farms in New Gloucester and Black Mountain in Rumford on Maine’s western edge – round out a statewide network of top Nordic competition and recreational skiing venues.

Continued on the next page