To Build A Trail

The Round Island Point Boardwalk Crew
(from left: Charles Dawley, Lauren Ice, Cindy Mom, Andrew Dawley)

What does it take to create a new trail at a nature preserve? Why are some preserves chosen for trails and not others? What resources are needed to get the job done? These are all just some of the questions that arise every time the Little Traverse Conservancy acquires - either by donation or purchase - a new property as a nature
preserve. And as the summer stewardship season comes to a close, we not only want to share the good news of a brand new trail, but also explain more about why and how it came about.

Currently, the Conservancy owns more than 160 nature preserves of which 14 include trails. At 889 acres and still growing, the Round Island Point Nature Preserve is the organization’s largest owned property. Situated in Chippewa County roughly 20 minutes west of Sault Ste. Marie, the preserve was created through a series of donations and purchases resulting in an outstanding block of contiguous wildlife habitat and more than 2¼ miles of protected Lake Superior shoreline.

Because of its size, features, and proximity to the Sault Ste. Marie and Brimley schools, a trail and overlook viewing deck were planned for Round Island Point. “Planned trails offer comfortable access and education opportunities to the public,” said Melissa Hansen, the Conservancy’s stewardship coordinator. “Ideally, they also encourage visitors to the preserve to remain in a defined region, allowing more sensitive or ecologically significant parts of the land to remain untraveled.”

The remote location and size of the Round Island Point Preserve posed new technical issues for the stewardship staff. Stewardship specialist, Cindy Mom, who oversaw the last stages of the project, explained that the trail-designing and building process happens through every season, includes a fair amount of office work, occasionally suffers setbacks, and involves many volunteers including middle school, high school, and college students. “Ideally, we flow straight through our checklist (shown on cover and below) but of course, every project is unique.” Cindy said. “For Round Island Point, the access and parking area had already been constructed before we started our process, so that played a big role in how we designed the trail.”

There are two “halves” of the Round Island Point Preserve trail that form the entire 1½ mile loop, with the longer half starting to the south of the viewing platform at the road’s end. Almost all of the boardwalks and other structures are in this half of the loop which winds through balsam fir woods, pine plantation, and a small bog area. The floating boardwalk (pictured on cover) crosses the bog and provides a view of the sphagnum moss mat, tamarack trees, black spruce, and carnivorous round-leaved sundews. Just after the bog crossing, the trail skirts an old wet meadow which was created years ago by beaver activity.

Blueberries grow along the sunny bank of the beaver meadow, and the trail leads to stairways and boardwalks that cross several creek beds. Look for evidence of old beaver dams, which long ago were covered with vegetation and now support small trees. The trail then curves to the north and brings you back through maple and fir woods to the bluff trail.

This portion of the trail runs along the edge of a steep bluff, and (especially in winter) offers spectacular views of the river and Round Island Point. The bluff trail crosses a dirt road in several places; construction on this road was begun just before Little Traverse Conservancy acquired the property. While we will most likely maintain some of it as a service road, we would like to restore some sections by planting trees or other native vegetation. The bluff trail leads back to the viewing platform. We hope you will visit the Round Island Point Nature Preserve and enjoy the trail!


Below, we've outlined the steps it takes to create a new trail:

Trail Creation 101

1. Evaluate property.
This requires mapping what currently exists on the property, describing past and current landscapes, structures, and uses, and identifying and marking boundaries.

2. Explore the property and trail options. Requires reviewing maps and visiting the preserve to determine the most appropriate location for a trail. Considerations include topography, soils, habitats, features to include and areas to avoid, future maintenance, signs, and structures needed.

4. Create parking area plan.

5. Apply for required permits. This step can include the DEQ/USACE permit application to do work, such as boardwalk construction, in wetlands.

6. Flag the trail.

7. Seek volunteers.

8. Clear trail - For Round Island Point, groups of volunteers came on three separate occasions to help with this task.
9. Build structures (boardwalks, stairs, bridges, platforms). It took an estimated 400 hours of staff and volunteer time to haul in lumber and construct the boardwalk, bridges, and platform at Round Island Point.

10. Order trail signs

11. Remove flagging and construction debris.

12. Mark trail with paint and emblem markers.

13. Install trail signs at entrances, intersections, and key boundary locations.

14. Construct parking area.

15. Inform members and public of new trail.