A Great Week to be a Volunteer
A really cool aspect of being a North Country Trail volunteer is the opportunity to develop an intimate relationship with nature in special places seen by few. Our work on Monday last week building new trail on the Lynch property proved to be another one of those opportunities. Located in the highlands of eastern Baraga County, this re-route passes through remote forests featuring undulating terrain with granite outcroppings and large erratic specimens. As with other areas within the Peter Wolfe Chapter, this segment also features smaller elements that add to its character and enhances the personal connection with nature.
We ended up spending five hours on our trail building work before retracing our steps to give the tread some final touches. We even came across some moose tracks.
On our way back we made a stop at Canyon Falls to do trail maintenance as there had been reports of numerous trees that had fallen across the trail during the recent heavy snow. The reports were accurate and we spent more than another hour cutting and removing these trees from the trail.
My Tuesday last week was spent working on the draft RFP which will seek proposals for the redevelopment of two contiguous properties at the entrance to the Chassell cemetery. One property involves the former Holy Trinity Lutheran Church that collapsed under the snow load last winter and the adjoining property the township claimed as it had gone into foreclosure. Both properties are now in the Houghton County Land Bank and our goal is to get some residential redevelopment on the combined sites. County Treasurer Lisa Mattila and Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance Executive Director Jeff Ratcliffe have been a big help with this process. I was also investigating options for a potential 501c(3) partner to facilitate the receipt of donations that could be awarded as grants to individuals/families in the township with blighted property who cannot afford to address the costs with remediating that blight. A few years back as part of a survey the planning commission carried out, we learned that a large number individuals in the community would be willing to donate to such a cause. With our updated zoning ordinance implemented earlier this year which includes blight provisions, the time is ripe to pursue this concept. A potential partner surfaced at the Team Peninsula meeting on this day over lunch. More about this as it develops!
With the Lions Club meeting scheduled at the same time as our Wednesday Keweenaw Running Group Run, I hit the rail-trail during the midday to get in some mileage.
The Lions Club meeting was focused on getting ready for the Halloween party the club puts on for the children in the community at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post. The two-hour event involves a costume contest judged by members of the Sigma Rho fraternity for cash prizes followed by games. This party and the Strawberry Festival are the two big events the club puts on in the community. The meeting also included the induction of ten new members. The Chassell Lions Club is second to only Bark River in total club membership here in the U.P.!
Thursday was focused on getting yard work completed ahead of the Airbnb guests coming in on Friday. I also had a Dial Help board meeting via Zoom and then dinner with friends that Julie would be going to the ballet with that evening at the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts at MTU. The really big news on Thursday was the announcement that the Nature Conservancy would be buying more than 31,000 acres in the Keweenaw Peninsula which will keep these lands open to the public. There are many places within this acquired land that we frequent and are the subject of many of my past issues of the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Newsletter. If you needed yet another reason to locate in the Keweenaw, add this to your list! You can read more about this transaction at this link to Bridge Michigan.
Friday morning I tuned into a webinar on the DNR’s Spark Grant program. We undertook our preliminary engineering study for Centennial Park with an eye on the possibility of this grant opportunity taking place. It was awesome to see the legislature and the Governor work together to create this opportunity to help address park infrastructure. After attending the webinar, I got into contact with our Township Supervisor Dave Mattson and Planning Commission Chair Brian Waters to discuss the opportunity and our proposal strategy. Dave gave us the go ahead to pursue it.
The weather was really nice on Friday so Julie and I headed out to the Chassell Fitness Trail. On the way to the trailhead we checked out the excellent work by DP Construction on the recently completed exterior repair and painting of the Chassell Heritage Center! This project that will protect the building envelope for years to come was made possible by a grant from the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission and a bequest from Ralph Hietila.
Even though the leaves were largely gone from the trees, it was a beautiful late afternoon to be on the trail!
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Would you value living in a place with ubiquitous natural beauty that has NO congestion and lower crime? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will be surrounded by amazing places! Learn more by visiting Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com and learn about those who have made the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.