Anthem Foundation donates $100,000 for the Back Cove Trail

11/13/2007 8:37:50 AM - City of Portland and Portland Trails announce partnership with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation to Repair Back Cove Trail.

Overlooking Portland’s Back Cove and its favorite loop trail, Nan Cumming, executive director of Portland Trails, and Denise Clavette, director of Portland’s Department of Parks and Recreation, announced today that significant structural repair is about to begin, thanks to a $100,000 donation from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield on September 20, 2007.

The Back Cove Trail is one of the oldest and most popular trails in Portland. The beautiful 3.5 mile loop features spectacular water and city views and is ideal for walking, running, and cycling. Even before the obvious damage done by the storm surge on Patriot’s Day this year, the Trail demonstrated serious erosion problems and maintenance issues, simply due to its tremendous popularity.

“As the director of a small non-profit organization, I am keenly aware of the need to collaborate with public and private partners in order to accomplish big dreams for big projects,” said Nan Cumming, Portland Trails’ executive director. “This partnership between Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the City of Portland Parks and Recreation Department, and Portland Trails is best example of such a coalition—a dream team to give this great trail back to the people of Southern Maine. We are very grateful to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for helping restore this popular trail.”

The City of Portland began rehabilitation of the trail last year, but because the Parks and Recreation Department is faced annually with competing needs for rehabilitation, improvements, and new construction on its vast system of public parks, the project was planned to be completed in phases as funding allowed, forcing yearly closures of sections of the trail as the work progressed.
With funding of $100,000 from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, full trail repair can begin immediately. Engineers from Woodard & Curran have developed a master plan for rehabilitation of the trail. The Back Cove Trail Restoration projects will include:
• Stable and safe trail surface overall, improving unsafe erosion problems
• Enhanced signage, including mileage markers and interpretive signs.
• ADA access ramps will be constructed at three points along the trail
• Stone embankments that have begun to fail will be fortified.
• Vegetation will be planted to help prevent future erosion.

The City of Portland estimates that over 250,000 people walk, run, or bike on the Back Cove Trail each year, making it one of the most intensively used trails in all of Maine. “I drive by here at 6:30 in the morning and there are literally hundreds of people using the trail. At noon, there are hundreds more - in fact I see many people using the trail well into the evening, in good weather and bad,” said Mike Burton, Director of Large Group Sales, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, in making this gift, is investing in the health of Maine people. As Maine’s largest health benefits company, we believe deeply that wellness–being physically active and eating healthy food – is the key to controlling health care costs in Maine.”

PORTLAND TRAILS is a private non-profit organization founded in 1991. They have a mission to create and maintain a 50-mile network of multi-use trails within greater Portland; to serve as a public advocate for the protection of and access to natural places within the region; and to encourage the participation of neighborhoods, schools, and the business community in trail use and stewardship.


THE CITY OF PORTLAND’S DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION reaches out to many citizens and visitors of Portland providing a diverse array of parks, open spaces, trails, programs, camps and special events through its Divisions of Parks and Cemeteries, Recreation, and Administration, and Riverside Golf Course and Portland Ice Arena. Their mission: Strengthening our diverse community, creating and providing quality recreation and leisure experiences through people, parks, programs and services.


ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD in Maine is an operating subsidiary of WellPoint Inc., whose mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. It is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading health benefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental, vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, it is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield