“We are excited to have been informed that our application, first submitted in April 2017, to the U.S. National Park Service for consideration as a “National Water Trail”, has finally been approved by the agency,” said David Lossing, chair of the Shiawassee River Water Trail Coalition.  “We applied for a grant from the NPS in August 2015 for technical support to begin pulling the needed data and information together for the application.  We appreciate all of the support we’ve been given during that process, and since, to move our Water Trail forward.”

The Shiawassee River Water Trail is eighty-eight miles in length stretching from Holly, MI to Chesaning, MI, crossing through four counties in mid-Michigan.  The agency’s water trail program was formed to “…protect and restore America’s rivers, shorelines, and waterways; conserve natural areas along waterways; and increase access to outdoor recreation on shorelines and waterways. The Trails are a distinctive and national network of exemplary water trails that are cooperatively supported and sustained.”

The Shiawassee River Water Trail Coalition began meeting in the fall of 2017 and organized itself to start working towards the implementation of the plan that was submitted as part of the water trail application.  To date, the Coalition, through its individual member organizations, have:

1.  Created additional launch locations on the Shiawassee River
2.      Worked with Terrain360 in 2019 to photograph the river in a 360-degree format.    https://www.terrain360.com/trail/shiawassee-river-water-trail?v=0&h=0&b=332.8&lat=42.78638&lon=-83.62663#0
3.      Worked with Hyfi, a company created through the University of Michigan’s School of Engineering, to install 30 water sensors on the Shiawassee River to report, in real time, the depth and flow of the river: https://www.tctimes.com/news/sensors-installed-along-the-shiawassee/article_4f0daa4c-0295-11eb-9a25-ff09681fe2bc.html
4.      Headwaters Trails, Inc., ongoing project of installing paddling mile markers along the river downstream of Fenton, MI.

The Shiawassee River Water Trail Coalition is made up of the following organizations:

Oakland County:

Village of Holly, Holly Township, Headwaters Trails, Inc., North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy

Genesee County:

City of Fenton, City of Linden, Argentine Township, Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission, Sierra Club – Nepsassing Chapter, Ponemah, Squaw and Tupper Lake Association, Keepers of the Shiawassee River

Shiawassee County:

Byron Village Downtown Development Authority, Village of Vernon, City of Corunna, City of Owosso, Shiawassee County Parks and Recreation, Friends of the Shiawassee River

Saginaw County:

Village of Oakley, Village of Chesaning, Chesaning Township, Saginaw County Parks and Recreation

For more information about the Shiawassee River Water Trail Coalition: https://www.shiawasseewatertrail.org

National Park Service’s announcement of the expanded trail program: https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/10-22-20-trump-administration-adds-1-275-miles-to-national-trail-system.htm