Natural Lansing: Parks, Foresty and Nature

11617182022

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  • Thanks, I will try to contact them, and maybe the commissioner might be able to help to get Frandor to at least a once a season cleanup they won't work if they are clogged up. I wonder why these guys are not more concerned about their property.
  • edited September 1
    I don't know, but this is always a problem with rain gardens. As you've probably noticed over the years, the ones on Michigan Avenue can get quite bad with trash that water brings with it. Those are the city's responsibility since they are in the road right-of-way, but instead, they have community groups "adopt" them because they don't want to spend the money to hire more workers to maintain them. And they've given also the excuse in the past that so long as they are accomplishing their purpose, the aesthetics are not a priority for them. So it's definitely not just a Frandor issue.

    BTW, the owners of Frandor are the same ones who were trying to kick CATA out of the center because they are hostile to homeless people. It's an old-fashioned, local mom-and-pop operation and Frandor has survived in spite of them, IMO. They absolutely have no idea about any modern changes or idea to make the mall better; they run the thing like it's still their grand opening in 1958.
  • I just wanted to invite anyone who's interested to the Friends of the Lansing Regional Trails 10th annual meeting tomorrow, September 18th, at the BWL train station in REO Town. Doors open at 5:30, program begins at 6pm

    There will be snacks and presentations by parks reps from various area municipalities discussing current trail construction and future efforts along with updates on the upcoming trails millage renewal. Buying a FLRT ($25) membership is appreciated but not required.

    https://www.lansingtrails.org/events/2024-flrt-annual-meeting
    https://www.facebook.com/FriendsLansingRegionalTrails/posts/pfbid07nurLnCnwDJFvEEJqnro7hVktFjFZ4jexoQhy1jGGAyqTpL8VkZCJTanBkNjjDoXl
  • Speaking of trails, I noticed a trailhead had been freshly laid at the road entrance to Evergreen Cemetery the other day. Anyone know anything aout this? Are they going to lay a trail through the cemetery? I'm there quite often, and a lot of folks who live right off of it do walk their dogs and jog through.
  • Yeah, the main part will go from the corner of Mt Hope & Aurelius, through Fenner, through Evergreen then out onto Forest to connect to the existing Bear Lake Trail. Another section will continue east from Forest & 127 behind Mclaren to connect near the Izzo medical building. The section at the front of Evergreen is just to provide access from Fidelity Rd/Crego Park. This is part of my go-to route so I'll be very happy to have it be a real trail as opposed to cutting through the back of Evergreen on dirt paths.

    I'm sure this is one of the projects Brett Kaschinske of Lansing Parks will discuss tomorrow.

    https://edc.lansingmi.gov/1224/FennerCorporate-Research-Pathway
  • edited September 17
    Okay, what I saw was a trailhead laid east of the cemetery's driveway entrance on Mt. Hope. It looks like it was aligned to accept cycle and pedestrian traffic across the street on Fidelity Road going to Crego Park. But it currently goes a few yards/meters and just kind of ends; it doesn't connect to anything. So I'm curious to see what it's actually going to connect to, unless it's just to provide a short pedestrian entrance to the cemetery.

    Saw quite a bit of construction going on, though.
  • The route at the front of Evergreen is just going to join in with the cemetery drive, as will the main trail for maybe a 1/4 mile. You can kinda see in that map at the link where the trail and cemetery drive share the road before the trail splits off to head to the back of the cemetery along Forest Rd.
  • Ahh, I see it now on page 12 of the pdf file.
  • The autumn colors are really beautiful this year around the city. On the Red Cedar I have seen fish! and the Great Blue Herron comes to find those fish almost every day at the waterfall. The water is quite low but is flowing very clear, as is the water in the Grand River over at Moores Park. At this lower stage the river looks more natural rushing over the rocks and sandbars. I think the trees in Moorse Park have some of the best color in the area. At the pool it looks like they have removed the whole lining of the pool revealing the old depth which was about 14 ft. before they renovated the pool with a swallower bottom. I hope they keep the deeper bottom; it was fun to slide down those big slides and dive from the high dive when I was a kid. They have removed the wooden benches from the amphitheater but maybe going to replace the seating as the cement structure is still there. Lots of water birds and I could see very many freshwater clam shells on the bottom. On the way back to EL on Mt Hope the Walter French building looks so great and may be nearing completion. I would love to have those huge windows in my apartment. The new Mt Hope School is also coming right along, it is a very large building. I also saw the work being done at Fenner for the new bike trail. Get out and take in the fall beauty, did anyone see the really pretty "drone" shots of the city during the football broadcast, our old town looked pretty cool.
  • I'm not sure I'll ever go swimming at Moores Park but if I did I'd also appreciate the deeper bottom. It really was a beautiful day today, a great time to be outside.

    Probably not surprising, but the new paths are a big deal to me. I've been on the new Fenner/Evergreen/McLaren path a few times during construction, including today. They appear to have everything done except some concrete at street crossings, it's actually a quite nice addition to the trail network. I'll post when I see it's officially open, I recommend checking it out.

    In less than 12 months we've seen the largest additions to the trail network in my memory going from about 32 miles of contiguous trail to 44+ miles, about 8 more miles should be added/connected by 2027. For anyone that enjoys the trails there's some new places to explore:
    MSU to Lake Lansing phase 1 - 1.7 miles (opened last December)
    MSU to Lansing phase 2 - 0.8 miles (but connects system to 4.7 miles of existing Meridian Twp trail, opened in September)
    Hayhoe Trail Esker Landing to College Rd - 2.3 miles (opened in August)
    Fenner/Evergreen pathway - 1.6 miles (opens this month)
    McLaren/Discovery Dr pathway - 0.9 miles (opens this month)
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