Mark your calendars for October 25th through the 28th. The 2009 Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference is coming to Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Here are more details from Nancy Krupiarz of MTGA.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference program topics and plenary speakers are up on the MTGA website. Hope you are making plans to attend this wonderful networking and inspiring educational event.

The pre-conference field trips are also coming together. They include the following options:

• Mountain bike trip to Fort Custer Recreation Area
• Horse and Carriage Ride down the Van Buren Trail
• Bike trip on the Kal-Haven and Kalamazoo River Valley Trail
• Bike trip at the Battle Creek Linear Park
• Historical walk in downtown Kalamazoo

Prices and details will all be in the conference brochure which will be out in July.

And the post-conference sessions are shaping up for Wednesday, October 27th. They include:

• Trails 101
• Water Trails
• Hands-on sustainable trail building with the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA)
• Covering the Distance: Long-Distance Trails

Likewise, prices and details will be in the conference brochure.

Hope to see you there!

Model D Media recently overviewed the status and progress of trail development across the city of Detroit.

The article mentions a relatively new trails brochure which goes into greater detail and includes a large fold-out map. If you are interest in receiving this brochure, make sure you visit the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance booth at the Detroit RiverDays from June 19th through the 21st. Or, stop by the MTGA booth at the Green Art Fair in Palmer Park on June 28th.

Crain’s also had a recent article, Conservancy makes great strides on RiverWalk, more. In it they look back on the history of the RiverWalk and provide some recent updates. The Dequindre Cut is noted as well.

And finally, Jeff Gerritt wrote a very positive opinion piece for the Free Press called, Cut shows Detroit’s promise.

The cut is one more reason to feel good about Detroit’s future, if we can start looking at things differently. The city’s population is less than half of its 1950s peak, and it continues to lose more than 10,000 people a year. But its land mass, streets, sewers, lighting and the like are still spread over the same 140 square miles geared to accommodate a city of nearly 2 million. Roughly a third of the city is now vacant. To survive and thrive, Detroit must creatively downsize. The Dequindre Cut Greenway shows us how.

There is some great news in the Spinal Column about Wixom officially joining Commere Township and Walled Lake to purchase a portion of the Coe railroad.

As we’ve reported prior, this would connect the Huron Valley Trail with the West Bloomfield Trail (and their planned extension), while creating 8 miles new miles rail-trail.

The communities have formally created a trailways alliance called the Commerce, Walled Lake and Wixom Trailway Management Council. Each municipality appointed one voting member to act in its best interests. Wixom City Manager Mike Dornan will represent Wixom, with Assistant City Manager Tony Nowicki serving as an alternate.

According to Nowicki, the formation of the trailway council is the first step toward acquiring railroad corridor property that spans from Haggerty Road to the western city limits of Wixom. That stretch is considered part of a missing link in a cross-county trail traversing the county limits and connecting into a cross-state corridor connecting one side of the state to the other.

“The council’s powers are limited to the acquisition and maintenance (of the rail corridor land), and for the purchase of railway right of way,” Nowicki said. “It doesn’t have the authority to levy any type of taxes.

Nowicki is currently preparing grant applications to seek funding to acquire the rail corridor.

Read the entire article

Despite all the depressing news of late swirling around the city of Detroit, one bright spot remains — the Dequindre Cut.

Let’s start with an excerpt from Jeff Gerritt’s Freep blog:

The cut is one more reason to feel good about Detroit’s future, if we can start looking at things differently. The city’s population is less than half of its 1950s peak, and it continues to lose more than 10,000 people a year. But its land mass streets, sewers, lighting and the like are still spread over the same 140 square miles geared to accommodate a city of nearly 2 million. Roughly a third of the city is now vacant. To survive and thrive, Detroit must creatively downsize. The Dequindre Cut Greenway shows us how.

The Cut was also mentioned during last Sunday’s Blessing of the Bikes ceremony at the Spirit of Hope Church in North Corktown. Here too is an excerpt from the Blessing:

Shower your blessing on cyclists across Detroit, from the Riverfront to Belle Isle, from Rouge Park to the Dequindre Cut, from downtown to Eight Mile, across Michigan, and all around the world. Amen!

And finally, Model D Media published an article highlighting the big ten greenway efforts in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck.

So despite all the doom and gloom from GM to Chrysler and now to Old Tiger Stadium, we still can celebrate having one of America’s most unique and beautiful urban trails right here at home.

Link: Grafitti art from the Dequindre Cut

This Model D video was shot primarily from the Lafayette entrance ramp to the Dequindre Cut near Downtown Detroit.