Lansing River Trail: 'An incredible jewel'
- Find the Transform Lansing supplement in Sunday%27s newspaper
LANSING – On a typical summer day in Lansing, you might see Paul Brogan or Nate Williams at their stand near the downtown city market.
They'll either be there or out on the water with River Town Adventures, the canoe and kayak rental and shuttling service they started last year.
To Williams and Brogan, the Red Cedar and Grand rivers are Lansing's best asset, and with River Town Adventures, they intend to show it off.
When you're out on the water, "you'll feel like you're miles and miles away from the city," Williams said, "when you're right downtown."
Lansing's riverways bring more to the city than canoeists and kayakers. The River Trail is the city's most popular park, said Brett Kaschinske, parks and recreation director for the city of Lansing.
Winding along the riverbanks from Michigan State University in the east to Delta Township on the west, and from Old Town in north Lansing south to Holt, the Lansing River Trail is the "central nervous system" of the region's nonmotorized pathways, attracting people and economic development to region, said Chad Gamble, Lansing public service director.
"The River Trail is not just a city of Lansing asset," Gamble said, "it is an asset for the region."
Just as city officials recognize the value of the region's more than 70 miles of trails when it comes to economic development, Ingham County voters voiced their support for building new trails and funding park maintenance when they approved a $3.5 million per year millage in 2014.
"It's not just a pretty pathway," said Andy Kilpatrick, Lansing transportation director, of the Lansing River Trail. "It connects a lot of our jewels of this city. ... It connects neighborhoods, it connects people to commerce."
An 'incredible jewel'
If anyone recognizes the value of the Lansing River Trail, it's Kevin Shaw.
A resident of Grand Ledge, Shaw frequently runs and bikes along the Lansing River Trail, either on his way to work or while training for his next marathon or triathlon.
In 2013, he wrote a letter to Virg Bernero, telling Lansing's mayor how much he loves the trail and asking if there was anything he could do to support it.
Bernero said yes, and asked him to take the lead in organizing a friends group for the River Trail. Shaw asked for volunteers in his monthly running column in the State Journal, and the response from readers was overwhelming, he said.
Of those who responded, Shaw handpicked a steering committee of about a dozen people, including Tony Byers, who had already started the Lansing River Trail Facebook page and website some years earlier.
One year ago, the Friends of the Lansing River Trail group officially organized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Since then, Playmakers named the Friends of the Lansing River Trail as one of its charity partners for the Fifth Third Capital City River Run in September.
"According to every study that we've seen, access to trails and access to waterways are huge indicators of quality of life," Shaw said.
"We have this incredible jewel," he said the Lansing River Trail. "I personally believe it's the most important asset we have to making downtown Lansing a more viable place for people to live."
With donations from the community, the Friends of the Lansing River Trail installed a welcome sign at the trail's entrance at Maguire Park this month. They've gathered survey responses from River Trail users on what improvements they'd like to see in the future.
Shaw said the No. 1 priority for the majority of the over 600 people surveyed would be a board walk to address flooding near Potter Park zoo. The No. 2 priority for the majority of respondents was general maintenance of the trail system, he said.
Looking into the future, Shaw said the Friends of the Lansing River Trail group would like to place "gateway arches" marking entry points to the trail in 15 locations around the city.
They would also like to see the trail connected to new trail systems in Delta Township and St. Johns, and to the larger trail systems in Michigan.
The future of the River Trail
Kaschinske said maintenance of Lansing's 16 miles of existing trails is the city's first priority when it comes to spending money from the Ingham County parks millage.
Beyond that, Gamble and Kilpatrick said expanding the River Trail to the north and connecting a piece on the east back to MSU are in planning stages for the short term.
In the long term, the city is working with representatives from Ingham, Clinton, and Eaton counties and the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance to develop a regional plan for expanding and developing trail systems throughout the region.
Connecting and expanding trails, Kilpatrick said, is a major draw for professionals and entrepreneurs.
"In the end, what we're trying to do is to make this city a place where people want to raise their families and locate their businesses," Kilpatrick said.
When it comes to Lansing's natural beauty, Brogan and Williams of River Town Adventures are fully invested.
The pair organize twice-monthly river cleanups where volunteers come to collect garbage and clear log jams. So far, they've pulled computers, a shopping cart and even a treadmill out of the waterway.
Because of one of the river cleanups, Williams said they were able to locate a man whose wallet they found and return it to him. The wallet had been stolen while the man was at a local hospital getting cancer treatments, he said, and while all of the money inside was gone, the man was happy to recover photos of his late wife still inside the wallet.
By getting people out on the rivers and the trails, Brogan and Williams said they want to change the perception of the rivers, from something of a trash collector to a valuable asset to be protected.
For Williams, being out on the rivers all day has changed his perspective too. Growing up in Lansing, he said he always wanted to leave the city. But now ...
"I've started to fall in love with Lansing," he said. "A lot of people are pulling for this area and pulling Lansing to be a better place.
"It's kind of cool, seeing the rebirth of this city."
How you can help
Join the Friends of the Lansing River Trail by visiting friends.lansingrivertrail.org or attending the annual meeting on July 13, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Lansing City Market.
To join the next river cleanup with River Town Adventures, contact them 517-253-7523 or www.rivertownadventures.com.