Portage Township Seeks To Create Collaborative Recreation Plan for Grants
By Paul Gingras

Portage Township is seeking collaboration with neighboring townships and schools to create a recreation plan, and will hire an outside agency to help. The board will direct the area recreation committee to contact neighboring township and school officials to see if they will work with Portage Township to create the plan, needed to qualify for state grants.

The plan was discussed at the township's Tuesday, February 12, meeting.

Recreation plans that involve children and neighboring communities are looked upon favorably by the Department of Natural Resources when it distributes grants for municipal projects, noted Supervisor Donald Ferris. To receive grants, the township must have a recreation plan as well as a master plan.

A previous township recreation plan was rejected.

"Our parks committee worked diligently to come up with a plan, and when it was submitted, found out that it [fell short] of what the Department of Natural Resources requires," Mr. Ferris said.

Board members will contact Garfield and Newton townships and the Engadine and Tahquamenon school districts to seek collaboration.

To ensure that the second attempt to update the plan is approved by the state, the board plans to hire Eastern Upper Peninsula Regional Planning and Development Commission, or STS - Marquette, a regional engineering company, to help.

The township needs to have the plan developed within six to eight months, Mr. Ferris said. Citizen surveys and updated maps will be part of the update.

Professional agencies contacted by the township will charge $500 to $1,500 for their services.

In other news, the township's new ambulance garage has been temporarily halted because it may encroach on an old burial ground.

According to research done by area resident Sue Petrie, townshipowned property behind its new Emergency Medical Service (EMS) building may be part of an old Native American burial ground, Mr. Ferris said.

Mr. Ferris said the township would contact the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians for information. The presence of a burial ground must be investigated by the township prior to moving forward with its plan to build a structure at the site for its ambulances, he said.

Eastern Upper Peninsula firefighters were praised in a letter from State Representative Bart Stupak, which was read at the February 12 meeting. The Sleeper Lakes Fire in August burned more than 18,000 acres of Lake Superior State Forest and threatened the village of Newberry, six miles away.

"I am overwhelmed with gratitude to see that 200 firefighters, many of you volunteers, came from great distances to our aid. Without such outpouring of goodwill, this natural disaster would have had severe consequences," Mr. Stupak wrote.

The township's plans for upgrading its ambulance service from basic life support to advanced life support have been delayed by a contract dispute between the state and the Upper Peninsula Emergency Medical Service (UPEMS), EMS Director Brad Kohvakka said. Portage Township's ambulance corps is overseen by the service.

Last year, the corps made 126 ambulance runs, received 74 calls for medical assistance, 34 for trauma, nine for fires, and five to be on standby. Ambulances made 63 transfers to Helen Newberry Joy Hospital and 33 to Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital.