SPARK Grant Proposal Completed
A concentrated portion of my time since my last post was spent wrapping up Chassell Township’s SPARK Grant proposal to the Department of Natural Resources. The efforts down the stretch focused on contacting key stakeholders for letters of support, refining our budget in consultation with Chris Holmes at U.P. Engineers & Architects, finalizing the draft narrative responses, and working with Township Clerk Lynn Gierke on getting our proposal finalized and submitted online to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Taking a break from the grant proposal work, I got out for a run last Saturday afternoon out to Halfmoon Beach and back. The footing was tricky as the warm weather earlier in the week left a lot of slush that froze into an uneven surface.
I caught another break from grant writing last Sunday as our hiking/skiing group got together on the Swedetown Trails. The glide was great, but still no tracks for classic skiing.
You can check out my GoPro video from the ski on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Monday I spent most of the day in the township office working with Lynn Gierke on getting the SPARK grant proposal uploaded to the MDNR. Given the amount of interest in the available funding, we know this will be a very competitive process; however, we are excited about our chances given the foresight demonstrated by the township with the preliminary engineering study undertaken over the last year on Centennial Park by U.P. Engineers & Architects as well as our extremely robust partnership of supporters helping us highlight our focus on inclusion. A decision on round 1 proposals will come in January!
On Tuesday, Julie and I snowshoed the lower two loops of the Chassell Classic Ski Trail to pick up sticks from the trail to help Jim Tervo get it ready for the upcoming ski season.
As I was wrapping up the SPARK grant proposal and throughout the week, I was also focused on getting the final drafts of our nine signs for the historic trail and our two signs for the canoe/kayak launch to Industrial Graphics for production. I was back and forth with MTU art and design instructor Terri Frew on final tweaks and by mid-week the historic signs were complete and forwarded to Industrial Graphics. I am coordinating with Chassell Heritage Center Curator Mat Moore on the final elements of the two canoe/kayak launch signs.
Wednesday evening we participated in the Keweenaw Land Trust’s Winter Solstice celebration at the Lily Creek Nature Sanctuary. The recent snow created an almost magical environment for a snowshoe through the woods to a campfire where we enjoyed awesome conversation. I learned about three more remote workers/remote entrepreneurs through my discussions! I also met a recent transplant from Colorado with a planning background who is going to review our draft Chassell Township Master Plan.
The snowshoe back out in darkness on a trail punctuated by luminaria was equally magical!
The weather forecast for the coming days was looking rather ominous, even by Keweenaw standards!
More about that next time!
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! Learn more by visiting the Remote Workforce Keweenaw website at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com and learn about those who have made the decision to locate here by following our ongoing series of remote worker/remote entrepreneur vignettes on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.