Our Stories
Upper Peninsula Boardwalk Build
Upper Peninsula Boardwalk Build
Within every North Country Trail project is a complex web of logistics and coordinating all the moving parts is a heavy lift. Slogging through knee-deep water and sticky mud aren’t the premier hiking experience the NCTA pledges to provide. Volunteers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula needed a sustainable solution on a trail segment notorious for flooding, so they sought counsel from NCTA Regional Trail Coordinator Kenny Wawsczyk.
The Jeske Flooding State Wildlife Management Area had an infamous stretch of trail in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula just southeast of Marquette. Working alongside volunteers of the NCTA Marquette Area Chapter, Kenny sought to resolve this issue by constructing a 500-foot-long section of boardwalk.
Kenny had to work with staff of three divisions in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) because of the property situation. An environmental permit was then applied for and approved, followed by approval from the National Park Service through their compliance process. Funding for the material came from a DNR grant that Kenny applied for. He also coordinated with YouthWorks, an organization with a youth conservation corps, to get their crews to assist with hauling lumber and constructing the boardwalk.
“Our Chapter volunteers accomplished what they did thanks to partnership with the NCTA and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR),” explained Brad Slagle, Marquette Area Chapter member and national board member. “Kenny coordinated the DNR permissions and design requirements, and secured grant money to buy materials and tools. He also arranged a youth corps crew to help move literal tons of lumber over a quarter-mile on very rough trail.”
On the ground, Brad was instrumental in coordinating the purchasing, delivery, and logistic of workdays.
“Nearly every project needs a volunteer to spearhead it,” explained Kenny, “as Regional Trail Coordinators like myself rarely get to see the construction side. While I was able to join the Chapter for one workday, volunteers like Brad (and many others) spend their valuable time seeing these projects through to completion.”
The next time you hike on a structure, whether it’s a boardwalk or bridge, take some time to think about how it got there. Not only physically, but logistically as well. Each one requires dedicated volunteers and NCTA staff to see them through from start to finish.
Kenny is responsible for trail management, and Chapter support and direction in both the upper and lower Peninsulas of Michigan. He joined the NCTA staff as a Regional Trail Coordinator in 2015. Seven years prior, he worked seasonally as a Trails Crew Leader for the U.S. Forest Service in the Manistee National Forest. He was born and raised in the Trail Town of White Cloud, and still lives close by with his wife, son, and daughter.
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