Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Bessemer — A five-year recreation plan adopted by the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday outlines yearly capital improvements projects.
The plan was approved on a 5-0 vote, with Joe Bonovetz and Jeff Wasley absent.
For this year, the plan calls for improvements to trails and a trailhead upgrade in the Powers Road area of Ironwood Township, at a cost of $7,500, and access road improvements and a kayak launch at McDonald Lake, for $13,500. The projects would be covered with local funding.
For 2019, the major expense would be new restrooms with flush toilets at Little Girl’s Point, costing $80,000 and financed by the Department of Natural Resources.
Maintenance of the dam at McDonald Lake, at a cost of $15,000, would be financed by the DNR or Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The locally funded projects for 2019 would be $7,500 for additional hunting walking trails on Powers Road and $3,000 in tent pad improvements at McDonald Lake.
Lake Gogebic is the focus of 2020 plans, with $50,000 sought from the DNR for day use pavilions near the beach, $10,000 in local funding for dock maintenance and $7,500 for playground equipment.
A kayak launch at Lake Gogebic is the lone 2021 project listed, at $12,000.
For 2022, new restrooms with flush toilets estimated at $80,000 are listed for Lake Gogebic and $12,000 is listed for a new vault toilet at McDonald Lake.
Jerry Wuorenmaa, of the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region, listed some plan changes that were approved by the county board. He attended Wednesday’s public hearing on the plan.
Steve Hamilton, president of the Gogebic Range Trail Authority, spoke about the off-road vehicle trail system and connecting it to the Montreal River Canyon overlook on the Gogebic County side. He also mentioned primitive camping sites near Bald Mountain.
Hamilton urged the county board to proceed with caution regarding the expansion of the Iron Belle Trail to Ramsay, studying easements, and supported an ORV map that would show where riders can legally operate.
An interesting part of the plan is a climate chart that says Ironwood averages 1.1 days per year of temperatures over 90 degrees, but 38 days below zero.
It says Watersmeet averages three days a year over 90 and 45 below zero.
