AmeriCorps Members Making a Difference in Local Communities

My name is Harriet Smith, a Michigan’s AmeriCorps member serving with Huron Pines, a conservation organization in Northeast Michigan. I serve as an Education and Outreach Specialist at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (TBNMS). The mission of TBNMS is to preserve nationally significant shipwrecks and regional maritime landscape through resource protection, education, and research. The sanctuary also promotes appreciation and responsible use of Thunder Bay, the Great Lakes, and the ocean. One of the central goals of TBNMS is to maintain a strong relationship with the local community through our education and outreach programs. From daily fieldtrips to the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, to visiting classrooms across Northeast Michigan, the education staff and I engage students through creative programming designed to spark interest in maritime history and cultural preservation. 

On August 4, 2012, Huron Pines partnered with TBNMS and the Alpena Rotary Club to conduct a clean-up of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and Rotary Island. The trail and island provide vital services to the community of Alpena. Approximately half a mile long and running along the Thunder Bay River, the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail serves as an outdoor location to not only experience Alpena’s wonderful natural resources, but also an opportunity for visitors to connect with local history. Interpretive signs line the trail with information about this historic stretch of riverbank and tell visitors about what life was like in nineteenth-century northern Michigan. Remnants of this busy period of history can still be found along the trail. Rotary Island, a small island along the shore of the Thunder Bay River, is another essential site in Alpena for visitors to experience the outdoors and learn about the local history. Several interpretive signs can also be found on the island, along with beautiful gardens and pathways.

The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and Rotary Island are used year-round by local residents and visiting tourists. In the spring, the trail and island serve as outdoor locations for school fieldtrips. TBNMS hosts hundreds of students each year. Sanctuary staff use the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and Rotary Island as the setting for a number of different educational activities. Students participate in scavenger hunts, water-testing experiments, and learn about the local ecosystem. In the summer, recreational fishermen, bike riders, runners, roller bladders, and those out to enjoy Northern Michigan utilize Rotary Island and the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail. When the snow starts to fall, the trail and island continue to be used by cross county skiers and those going for a hike with their snowshoes.

With so many people frequently using the Great Lakes Maritime Trail and Rotary Island, proper maintenance of the property is crucial, making our summer clean-up project all the more important. I began planning for the clean-up in July. It was my responsibility to plan and run the project, which included recruiting volunteers, securing funding, and deciding what clean-up projects the volunteers would tackle. The central goal of this event was not only to complete several projects on the island and trail, but also to generate long-term interest in the continued improvement of these two areas. While I was planning the clean-up, I tried to think of ways to get members of the community involved in the event. I put up posters, spoke to the local newspaper, and advertised online. Although several people RSVP’ed to the event, I was still nervous about the turn out.

At 10 a.m. on the morning of August 4^th, all the set-up was finished and volunteers began to arrive. After dividing them up into smaller groups, the volunteers began to work on their projects. Throughout the day, volunteers reinvigorated gardens and flowerbeds by removing brush and weeds, improved the overall appearance and safety of the trail by boarding up broken windows on an abandoned building, treated several kinds of aggressive invasive species, removed trash from the island and trail, and constructed a raised flowerbed. The purpose of the raised flowerbed is to provide an opportunity for those with physical disabilities to take part in community service. Since the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and Rotary Island are handicapped-accessible, the addition of the flowerbeds will allow those with physical disabilities to not only enjoy the trail and island, but also to participate in its upkeep.

We accomplished a lot during the cleanup but for me the highlight was seeing the reaction from members of the community. It was a hot day so many locals were out and about, enjoying the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and Rotary Island as we worked to complete our projects. Throughout the day, volunteers received compliments and praise. Visitors on the trial and Island were very interested in our project, and several asked to be put on mailing list so they could participate in future community service events. One man who was out riding his bike actually decided to stop and help us pick up trash for several hours. “If I use this trail I might as well help with maintaining it,” he told me. I have participated in many community service projects and it is not often that volunteers receive this amount of recognition and thanks from members of the local community.

In the end the best way to raise awareness about resource preservation was going out and interacting with the locals. Not only did the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and Rotary Island Cleanup help to improve two vital resources in Alpena, but it also sparked local interest in continued maintenance and improvement of the trail and island.