Background

The Silver Lead Creek Greenway and Trail Project is located in KI Sawyer, Michigan. The project creates permanent access to nature, outdoor recreation, and safe non-motorized transportation for a community established when the KI Sawyer Air Force Base was decommissioned in the 1990s. KI Sawyer is largely built-up with dense housing, buildings, and infrastructure and lacks safe non-motorized infrastructure. Centrally located, the Silver Lead Creek Greenway and Trail is the backbone to safely connect neighborhoods, recreation amenities, institutions, and businesses that the community needs.

​

As currently proposed, the public greenway is approximately 500 acres with three miles of main trail, a combination of aggregate trail in a wooded creek setting and pathways within road right of ways and built up areas. The trail crosses the Silver Lead Creek, requiring a bridge, and also faces areas of elevation change due to the valley landscape of the creek.  Preliminary design work of the main trail and bridge is available.

A trailhead of the SLCG Trail, Little Trout Lake (LTL) Park will soon go through an extensive renovation, currently under design with construction slated in 2025, with support from the MDNR Spark Grant Program. LTL Park sits on an 111-acre parcel, with a 10-acre lake. LTL Park includes about 8 acres of “developed” day use space with the Silver Lead Creek flowing through the park. The leg of the SLCG Trail that runs through LTL Park will be constructed as part of the above-described LTL Park project in 2025.  The section of trail to be built within LTL Park will be ADA accessible with crushed aggregate surface. Project plans are available. The Conceptual Plan, and additional details of the project are available on the RFQP website.

​

Please note funding has not yet been secured for the construction phase of this project.