Partnering To Create More Trails

     From the start, TOMMBA’s Boyne School Forest Trail project has been a collaborative effort aimed at making our community a better place to live and play. A partnership with the Boyne City Public Schools to utilize their property, with Evangeline Township to add signs and with the local cycling community for thousands of hours of volunteer effort and financial support. So, we are thrilled to add new partners in the Walloon Lake Conservancy and City of Boyne City making it possible to double the length of the trail. 20 miles by 2020!

About Boyne School Forest Expansion 

     The Walloon Lake Trust and Conservancy and TOMMBA are raising funds to purchase property that will become a Conservancy preserve in the Boyne School Forest corridor. This land, situated directly between Boyne School Forest land and City of Boyne City land, plays a vital role in protection of habitat and forested land in the Walloon Lake Watershed. It also presents an opportunity to build trail connections from the existing Boyne School Forest trails through to the City of Boyne City property.

     WLTC is teaming with Top of Michigan Mountain Bike Association to make this vision a reality. This fundraising campaign will assist the Conservancy with the purchase of this 40-acre parcel and for trail building start-up costs. Priority number one is to complete the purchase of the property by April 1, 2019 by raising $105,000. Once the purchase is complete, the Conservancy will enter into an agreement with TOMMBA for trail building and trail maintenance and we hope to raise an additional $50,000 to jump-start this process. 

     This partnership has already spurred the creation of a larger plan to create a trail network of nearly 20 miles of multi-use sustainable trails that will connect the Mackinaw State Forest to City property at Old Horton Bay Road. Increased signage, better parking, and more diverse trails are all possible through the finalization of one property purchase!