POLAND — What had long been informal winter access to Range Ponds State Park has become official. The park will remain open year round, all four seasons, all trails, all access.

The catalyst to switch from what was essentially a three-season to a four-season park was the prime fishing, according to Adam McKay, park manager and ranger at Range Ponds and Androscoggin Riverlands state parks.

The Bureau of Parks and Lands stocks the Range Ponds every year with brook and brown trout. “A couple of fish in the 5-pound range have been caught,” McKay said, “which means they’re growing really well” and there is some hope that — at least among the brown trout population — there will eventually be trophy fish in the ponds.

Anglers can also fish for small- and large-mouth bass, McKay said, so the mix of fish offers opportunities for people to fish in open water using artificial lures and, after Jan. 1, to ice-fish — although this year’s warm weather will delay the start of ice-fishing season.

The interest to ice fish at the park is so high that McKay said he is working on a plan to provide rental equipment to visitors — traps, augers, pop-up warming shacks — so people who don’t have the equipment but may be interested in fishing can try it out. “Then,” he said, “when they like it, and realize it’s not that hard, maybe they’ll go out and buy their own equipment and come back.”

There’s such a demand at Range Ponds, McKay said, because “it’s just a beautiful place to be. It’s so close to the city, but you get out there and forget you’re so close to Lewiston-Auburn. It’s really a gem, in my opinion.”

The park had officially been open one day each winter in past years to host the annual Kids Fishing Derby in cooperation with the Windham Rotary Club and Kittery Trading Post.

According to McKay, the bureau would piece together staff from other parks to make that event happen. At some point, “they realized what a big deal it was, how many people were coming to this event,” and discussions began to keep the park open year round.

This year, the derby will be held March 5 — ice depending.

Although fishing access may have been the prompt to keep the park open, McKay said there’s always been a large group of people who want to use the park year round, including cross-country skiers and dog-walkers. And, many of those people had been using the park when it was closed, parking on the road and walking past the locked gate.

“The use was there. The demand was there,” McKay said, so it was a matter of figuring out how to staff the park, which includes opening the gate, plowing parking lots, grooming trails and being available to provide help if needed for visitors.

So, the bureau melded an open position with McKay’s position to make him a full-time employee, and he’s now responsible for winter access at Range Ponds and also at Androscoggin Riverlands.

The Riverlands access is pretty simple, though, and will be a matter of keeping the Turner parking lot plowed. The trails there will not be groomed, but the park will be open for use.

All of the trails at Range Ponds will be groomed. A 2-mile trail will be open exclusively for cross-country, and walkers and snowshoers will be asked to use a separate, 1.5-mile loop “so everybody has their own trail,” McKay said.

There is also a snowmobile trail that cuts through the park, which is heavily used, but the sight line is pretty straight so people can see the machines coming.

“If you add up all the trails we have here, you’re talking over 7 to 8 miles of trails you can use,” McKay said, including a portion of the snowmobile trail.

The park has also become a destination for fat-tire mountain bikers.

“Usually, they get a group together to pack down some of the mountain trails we have across from the gate during the winter,” he said, but this year “the bikes would be allowed on our walking trail and snowmobile trails, too.”

The same park rules will apply in winter months. The gate will be locked on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but otherwise the park will be open from 9 a.m. to sunset.

The park will make special accommodations for ice-fishing, providing the combination to the gate so anglers can drive in. “Fishing is an early-morning sport,” McKay said, so anglers will be allowed access half an hour before sunrise for the best catch. This week, sunrise was just after 7 a.m., so anglers will be allowed in the park hours before it opens to the public.

This is essentially the same program offered during the summer, allowing anglers an early launch.

When the ponds freeze sufficiently, people will be allowed to bring snowmobiles and ATVs on the ice, but full-size vehicles will be banned. The park will also permit people to slide personal ice shacks out for fishing.

This year, with the winter access, the park is also working with the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to host a fishing derby specifically to raise money for Camp North Woods, a program for children to learn the basics of hunting, fishing and camping from wardens featured on Animal Planet’s “North Woods Law.”

All registration fees from the derby will go toward a scholarship; that derby will be held some time after the park’s annual Kids Fishing Derby in March.

McKay said he’s thrilled the park will host multiple events for children this year. “There are so many things you can do inside, and you forget winter can be fun (outdoors, too),” he said.

The park will also participate in a free fitting and skiing event at the park on Feb. 12, part of the Bureau of Parks and Lands annual Winter Family Fun Days. At Range Ponds, visitors will be required to pay the daily fee, but can then use skis and snowshoes at no charge. They’ll be fitted for the equipment, and McKay said it’s a fun way to try snow sports without investing a lot of money.

In addition to these community events, McKay said he’s letting local schools know the park is available for winter field trips to ice-fish or use other park amenities.

For more information about Range Ponds State Park, go to stateparks.com.