Streamside boardwalk opens
Streamside boardwalk opens
By GARRETT NEESE Houghton Mining Gazette
HOUGHTON — The city of Houghton celebrated the near-doubling of the Nara Nature Park boardwalk system with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
The 2,200-foot section of boardwalk along the Pilgrim River was partially funded by a grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. The grant paid for half of the boardwalk’s $98,000 cost, with the city contributing the rest.
“This is a legacy that’s going to last for many, many years for this area,” Houghton Mayor Eric Peterson said.
The land was donated by Robert and Ruth Nara, who have given about 120 acres to the city since 1993. Like the earlier section, the new boardwalk also has five fishing piers.
“It’s very nice,” Robert Nara said of the boardwalk. “We’ve had a master plan for the past several years, and the parts of the puzzle are busy fitting together.”
Lisa McTiernan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ grant coordinator, was among those on hand for the ribbon-cutting.
“It’s an honor to have been part of this project and to see all the hard work that has gone into it,” she said. “The reason the ... trust fund exists is to make projects like this a reality.”
The trust fund employs several criteria when judging applications, McTiernan said, including access to inland water and significant natural resources, fishing areas, and community support — all of which the Houghton project met.
“Real resource-based recreation is what the trust fund looks for,” she said.
The city has more work planned at the park, including the proposed use of the former Copper Country Humane Society building as a concessions/warming area.
City officials toured the facility Wednesday with McTiernan, who MacInnes said was “very impressed” with the cleanup work done in the building so far.
Nara said finishing the rest of the master plan will likely take 20 years or more.
“And even then, there will probably be new ideas forthcoming,” he said.
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