Maps marking off-road bicycling trails will be coming to the Les Cheneaux area by the end of the year. Jeff Bantle, an Outdoor Recreation Management student at Central Michigan University, will be using global positioning system (GPS) equipment over the next four months to detail and map trail areas in Clark Township as part of his senior thesis project.

The Clark Township Board of Trustees is releasing up to $2,600 of Les Cheneaux Bike Path Committee funds to help Mr. Bantle complete the project. The board approved releasing the money at its Thursday, August 20, meeting. The money is to be used for project staffing, travel, and printing expenses.

The goal of the project is to attract cyclists to the area as well as help strengthen the Bike Path Committee's standing with the Michigan Department of Transportation when applying for bicycle path grants.

"There's nothing in our area for that sort of thing," Bike Path Committee member Jim Schlosser said. "This is something that will enhance everything and bring more awareness to biking in the area, which will only help us as we continue to do what we really want to do; create a safe [cycling] ride from St. Ignace to Drummond Island."

Five-thousand copies of the maps will be printed and distributed to the Les Cheneaux Welcome Center, Les Cheneaux Chamber of Commerce, Les Cheneaux Tourist Association, and many local businesses. An electronic version of the map will also be available on the Tourists Association's Web site, www.lescheneaux. org.

Mr. Bantle, who has been a summer intern at Woods and Water Ecotours since May, will begin the project Saturday, September 5, just after the start of the university's fall semester. Over the next two months, he will map trails near Search Bay, Bay City Lake, Cranberry Lake Flooding, and around the Albert J. Lindberg Airport. Once the trails are plotted with GPS, the coordinates will be uploaded into a computer mapping program, trail descriptions written, and online content created.

"With this, we'd be able to give [tourists] something physical with ride descriptions. Show them trails that are out there, that haven't been mapped out, and are probably hidden to a lot of people, especially visitors to the area," Mr. Bantle said.

The board unanimously agreed that releasing the funds to the Bike Path Committee would be beneficial to the township owing to a current lack of trail identification.

"We've had a couple inquiries this year from summer residents about where they can go, and we have nothing to give them," Township Treasurer Katie Carpenter said.

Possible dump site

approved by township

A potential site for the dumping of dredge spoils from the Les Cheneaux channels dredging project was approved by the board at Thursday's meeting. Final approval of the potential site, on the northwest side of the township wastewater lagoons on Blindline Road, is pending approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Bob Dunn of the Les Cheneaux Waterways Restoration Group, which has been the driving force behind making the dredging a priority project for the Corps of Engineers, said the group has been in contact with Corps engineers to find a suitable spoils dumpsite. He said the Corps of Engineers likes the site and is determining its final approval.

"They want undisturbed land. It makes the process easier, so they don't have to get their environmental people involved for an environmental impact assessment," he said. "We found an area there which they liked, that could be approved provided the [spoils] did not go into the wooded area... We think this location is a good location for the channel dredge spoils."

The board said it will send a letter to the Corps of Engineers stating its approval of the dump site to help the process along. Mr. Dunn said the Corps of Engineers hopes to have the contract for the dredging awarded to a third-party contractor by the end of September. A start date for the estimated $1.4 million project is yet to be set.

In other business, the board is asking Green Energy Solutions of Cedarville to conduct free site evaluations at selected township properties to see where using alternative energy solutions can provide a cost savings to the township.

Mike McMaken, owner of Green Energy Solutions, approached the board to see if it would be interested in the site evaluations and to provide board members with information about wind turbine ordinances used by municipalities around Michigan.

"There's a lot places that don't have any zoning for wind turbines. We wanted to make sure that we could bring you up to speed with what's out there for zoning," he said. "We just didn't want our own township to be behind on what everybody else knows."

Mr. McMaken also provided the board with information about grants and low-interest loans available for renewable energy source installations.

The board jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the free site evaluations.

"There's no hurting having him go up and doing an assessment. Why not?" trustee Gary Wellnitz asked.