Isabella County Parks was awarded $5,000 in Destination Development funds from the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitors Bureau on October 19, 2023. The award, along with another gift of $1,000 from the Friends of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail, will help finance the first phase of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail Beautification Project. The goal of the project is to keep the 8.25-mile stretch of the trail that is managed by Isabella County safe, accessible, user friendly, and an attractive place to recreate in the community.
The first phase includes installing mile marker signs along the full 8.25 miles of Isabella County trail to help visitors with trail orientation and increase safety; trimming vegetation overgrowth, specifically in areas where trees or bushes had branches hanging high over the trail that could fall or hit visitors; and crack filling, sealcoating and striping one mile of consecutive trail and several high priority sections of trail totaling another mile. One of those sections is the pedestrian bridge near the Loomis Trailhead. The asphalt work will eliminate large bumps and create a smoother, gradually sloped transition onto the bridge, and repair the trail surface across the bridge.
Thank you to the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Friends of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail for supporting this important project!
SUMMER 2024 UPDATE:
