“As the township developed its five-year recreation plan, our planning commission surveyed our residents and learned that the development of trails to support fitness was a high priority”, noted Township Supervisor David Mattson. “The grant we received from the Portage Health Foundation and our volunteers’ efforts have been instrumental in making this citizen vision a reality.”
In September, the construction trades class at the Chassell Township Schools put 80 hours into a bridge replacement on the trail. During September and October, a group of volunteers mobilized to assemble the fitness stations, dig holes for foundations and posts, set up the equipment and more. The generous grant of $11,250.52 from the Portage Health Foundation covered 80 percent of the hard costs associated with the project, with the Chassell Township recreation millage covering the remaining 20 percent. The funding from the Portage Health Foundation also helped acquire the materials needed for bridge replacement on the trail’s path.
“The folks in Chassell presented a well-developed plan that helps the Portage Health Foundation advance its mission to help support access to healthy living,” said Kevin Store, Executive Director of the Foundation. “We’re grateful to have been a part of this project, and happy to have financially supported it.”
Through a collaboration with Michigan Technological University, Dr. John Durocher, Director of the Clinical and Applied Human Physiology Laboratory, will work with pre-health students to create video tutorials that will describe how to properly use the trail-side fitness equipment. Chassell’s Planning Commission is also working with Dr. Gowtham, Michigan Tech’s Director of Research Computing, on GPSing the trail system so it can be added into Google maps. Mapping the trail system in Google Maps will allow users who have lost their way to easily navigate back to a trail head using their smart phone.
The addition of the fitness stations ties into the vision of the Chassell Township Planning Commission – to make Chassell a great place to live, work and play. Trail users are encouraged to become members of the Chassell Fitness Trail Facebook Group - CLICK HERE - to coordinate meet-ups and to report on their trail usage. For more information and news from Chassell Township, visit them online at chassell.net - CLICK HERE .