The Saginaw County Parks and Recreation Commission is seeking input from county residents regarding the future of parks and recreation in Saginaw County.
You are invited to share your input at the Saginaw County Governmental Center in Conference Room LL006 (lower level) located at 111 S. Michigan Ave in the City of Saginaw on Thursday, December 18, from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
Please stop by at your convenience to talk with recreation planners and review information about Saginaw County parks. It won’t take long, about ten minutes of your time. As a resident in the community, we want to hear your ideas and suggestions for recreation in Saginaw County.
If you aren’t able to attend, feel free to post a comment on this blog.
Information collected at this informal gathering will be reviewed and used in the Saginaw County Recreation Plan. This plan is a very important document, filed every five years with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and is the basis for all grant applications.
This flyer provides additional information about the December 18 community input opportunity:
- Date: Thursday, December 18
- Time: 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm
- Location: Conference Room LL006 (lower level) at the Saginaw County Governmental Center (111 S. Michigan Ave in Saginaw)
Taking the Polar Plunge at the William H. Haithco Recreation Area
Having a rail trail in our town would be wonderful. I have logged many hours on the rail trail in St. Charles and truly believe that providing a walkway out in nature is a great way to keep a community more fit and healthy, which would set a great example for our children!
Saginaw P & R needs to extend the “RAILS SYSTEM” to Chesaning.
For the William H. Haithco Recreation Area: a pedestrian link along the west edge of the lake, connecting the north and south ends of the park and creating a walking loop would be a good improvement.
For Price Nature Center: a bridge over the ditch at the east edge of the property, would allow more variety in hiking the park by connecting the Deer Run Trail to the White Oak Trail directly.
For Ringwood Forest: an easement over private land on the north edge, near the river, would allow connection of Witch Hazel Trail to the extreme north side of the park for hiking, which is now inaccessable as it lies north of the river. Alternately, a new parking lot and trail from Schroeder Rd would open up the extreme north side of the park for hiking.
I would like to see a partnership between Saginaw County Rec and the Village of St. Charles in an effort to transform the old water tower to an observation tower at the Saginaw Valley Rail Trail head in St. Charles. I believe the observation would be a strong attraction to “would-be” trail users.
I think the previously-mentioned observation deck on the water tower would be a great addition to the Rail/Trail. And, partnering with the Village of St. Charles would help with the costs of the improvement.
I would love more places to mountain bike, we go to the Shiawassee trails off of Center frequently but head to Midland most times as their trials are longer and more challenging!
The rail trail is amazing and I would love to see it made much longer and more accessable to those living in Saginaw Township/City as I want to ride to the rail trail vs. driving there.
Overall I don’t see Saginaw having an ideal parks and rec program until the dioxin problem is addressed. The constant discoveries of record breaking amounts of dioxin turn any nature lover off to the beautiful parks, woods, and water of the area. I am tired of driving far away to swim, canoe, and hike but can’t help but worry about my safety if I ignore warnings about dioxins. Most people who love the outdoors will feel the same way and will therefore be unlikely to support funding to parks they don’t want to use!
My wife and I love snowshoeing, backpacking, hiking, camping and mountain biking. I would like to be able to hike into the woods, set up a tent, and hike out the next day. Same w/ my snowshoes. There is 1 group campground in the park system which rents for $35, how about something a little more budget friendly, as we can go to a normal rustic campground anywhere in MI for $10-15. I am tired of driving hours to enjoy these things, and would be more likely to stay in the area if it had more secluded nature to enjoy, as it stands we are trying to relocate “up north”