Loon Lake Path Enhancement Complete
NEW PIECE OF THE IOSCO EXPLORATION TRAIL AND IRON BELLE TRAIL CONSTRUCTED IN PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP’S LOON LAKE PARK
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP - Just over a year after the first shovel of dirt was turned, a nearly mile-long portion of non-motorized trail that travels between Loon Lake and Mud Lake in Plainfield Township’s 121-acre Loon Lake Park is complete.
The trail, which connects to existing walking paths at the south end of the park and a trailhead to the north at Kokosing Road, is also part of the 38-mile-long Iosco Exploration Trail (IET) that connects Oscoda Charter Township, Au Sable Charter Township, and the city of Hale. It is also part of the more than 2,000-mile-long Iron Belle Trail that connects Belle Island in Detroit with the City of Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula.
Loon Lake Park, located along M-65 north of Hale, is rich in natural resources. It has access to both Mud Lake and Loon Lake, rolling hills, woodlands, and wetlands, which all supply wildlife with a secluded and desired habitat. Spicer Group has been working with Plainfield Township on projects at the park for over a decade.
With the park’s richness of natural resources, the Township wanted to provide passive recreational opportunities there while preserving the natural habitat. In 2006, Spicer Group began working with Plainfield Township to write a grant to develop the park with trails, an observation boardwalk through the wetlands leading out to Mud Lake, a boat launch, restroom, pavilion, parking lot, and other amenities.
Once the $332,000 grant was awarded, Spicer worked with the Township to develop design plans, apply for the wetland permits through the State of Michigan, administer the grant, and oversee construction of the project.
Benches, interpretive signs, and waste receptacles were created and placed along the trail.
With the successful completion of phase one of improvements to Loon Lake Park, Spicer Group assisted Plainfield Township in 2008 with writing an acquisition grant to help the Township purchase approximately 100 acres of undeveloped land contiguous to the park.
After being awarded the $428,800 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the property, which was formerly part of a Lutheran camp, was added to the Township’s existing Loon Lake Park. Spicer assisted the Township with the acquisition by providing boundary survey work, grant administration, and general acquisition assistance.
“We have one particular area in the Township near Long Lake, Little Long Lake, and Loon Lake that has a high concentration of homes, cabins, and cottages and in the summer, it’s a heavily used area,” Fred Lewis, the Supervisor for Plainfield Township, said. “We wanted to put some trails through there. It is one of the things we’ve been looking at for years in the community to tie our lake areas together and connect that area with downtown Hale.”
Lewis said in talks with the surrounding communities, it was discovered that this goal also fit with the development of the IET and the Iron Belle Trail.
To make this goal a reality, the Township again worked with Spicer Group to apply for a Trust Fund development grant in 2016 from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The $140,000 grant was awarded to the Township, who then hired Spicer to design and oversee the construction of the one-mile-long trail route through the park property. By then, the trail had been adopted as Phase 2 of the IET, and into the Iron Belle Trail route.
“Our goal is to make this trail have as low of an impact on the environment as possible, but have an extremely high social and economic impact,” Lewis said.
To save on overall costs of the pathway, Spicer Group engineers designed a six-foot-wide path made of crushed stone that when compacted, is as hard as concrete.
The trail winds through forest between Mud Lake and Loon Lake, traveling near Wild Cherry Lane, before turning north, crossing wetlands with the help of wooden boardwalks, and connecting to a new trailhead along Kokosing Road with a trailhead parking lot.
“There were a lot of creative solutions that went into this project because it was a challenge to find the right route for this trail,” Spicer Group Project Manager Tanya Moore said. “The terrain is very hilly, with major elevation changes in the area. There are also large wetlands we had to cross, and purely just being in undeveloped forest makes it difficult. We had to ensure that once the route was defined, it could also be constructed to make it ADA accessible.”
“Our goal is to make this trail have as low of an impact on the environment as possible, but have an extremely high social and economic impact”
Past projects at the park included an elevated boardwalk across wetland areas.
In the wetlands area, wooden boardwalks and ‘wetland burrito’ types of pathways were used to build the trail. The ‘wetland burritos’ saved on the cost of having to build extremely long boardwalk sections and allow for water to still safely penetrate and flow through the trail.
“This is a beautiful site with woodlands, wetlands and not just one, but two lakes,” Moore said. “There is a ton of wildlife in the area, including the common Loon. Local birding groups have always been attracted to this park for viewing the numerous species but are excited to have better access with the new trail.”
The project also features benches, rest areas, and interpretive signs, along with trash and recycling receptacles near the parking lot.
Construction began in late 2018 and was finished by October 2019. Spicer’s team was responsible for all grant administration, surveying, design, bidding assistance, construction administration, and construction inspection on the project.
“Many people are already using the trail,” Lewis said. “The trail is beautiful, people are gushing over it and they love it.”
The new path provides new access through the park and offers many recreational opportunities including bird watching, which is very popular at the park.