This article was originally published by The KEEL

By Sarah Spohn

Located in the heart of St. Clair County, Kimball Township has about 9,500 residents — many who enjoy the community’s natural resources, including the Black River. Although parks and recreational amenities include nature sanctuaries, state game areas, golf courses, trails, community parks, and campgrounds, there hasn’t been a proper park canoe and kayak launch for residents and visitors to enjoy.

Thanks to the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, this won’t be the case for much longer.

Rob Usakowski, supervisor for Kimball Township, leads the township’s departments in building and assessing, parks, and roads. Usakowski says throughout multiple forms of community outreach, many residents have expressed interest in having better access to the river for kayak use. 

“A lot of people try to use the Black River for canoe and kayak launching, but the problem is they have to park along a main road, which is Wadhams Road,” he says. “You typically don’t want people parking on the side of a main road like that. It’s even further complicated because to get down into the river, there’s a somewhat steep embankment so there’s no ease of use to get in there. It’s certainly not handicap accessible in any way, shape, or form, so it’s been a priority.”

Kimball Township has looked into other nearby properties privately owned to see if a park construction and canoe/kayak launch would be suitable there. Usakowski says the 37 acres of privately owned land, north of I-69, near the east side of Wadhams Road and North River Road, along the north side of the Black River was ideal. 

“This property came up and was available, and it works pretty well with the Blueways of St. Clair, there are two water trails right at that location — one ends there and one begins there so the location makes a lot of sense,” he says. 

Kimball Township hopes to fund this land purchase through a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant, but the process tends to move slowly. Usakowski says he reached out to the Community Foundation of St. Clair County to help secure the property.

Help from the Community Foundation

This marks the first project these two entities have worked on together, although their paths have crossed a few times, says Usakowski. 

The collaborative effort between the township and the foundation will allow residents and visitors to utilize one of the more valuable resources and assets, says Usakowski. 

“Being able to not only take advantage of the Black River but to preserve that as well, is pretty important,” he says. “It doesn’t happen without partners. St. Clair County Park and Recreation is also going to work with us in establishing the canoe and kayak launch. There are quite a few people at the table to make it work, so we’re excited about it.”

Randy Maiers is the President and CEO of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County. As part of the Community Foundation’s commitment to build a more vibrant and prosperous community, the organization uses endowments and project-specific funds to award more than 1,000 grants totaling several million dollars annually.

The foundation launched an initiative in 2023 to see how they could support smaller and more rural communities, focusing on outdoor recreation assets.

“We’ve been pretty aware that a lot of our smaller, more rural communities often don’t get the same level of state funding via grants,” Maiers says. “It’s often hard for them to be competitive for federal grant programs, and they often struggle to put together an action plan to create or enhance their outdoor amenities — their parks, trails, and waterfront assets.” 

Maiers says that although canoeing and kayaking are popular recreational activities and hobbies of many residents in Kimball Township, the lack of public access to the Black River presented barriers. 

When Kimball Township approached the Foundation with landowners who put up property on both sides of the Black River, which feeds into downtown Port Huron, the pair looked at how to assemble a long-term plan to purchase and develop the land. 

“We were willing to get involved because this kind of outdoor recreation work has been on our radar for quite a while, and we know how popular this launching site is for people,” Maiers says. With that knowledge, our Board approved us buying the land, holding it, and hopefully collaborating with Kimball Township down the road to have it developed into a fully accessible canoe and kayak launch in the Black River.”

Maiers says the Township has two years to come up with the money to buy the land back from the Community Foundation and is working together to find more donors and grants. 

“We really want to see this land developed as a public park,” Maiers says. 

This isn’t the first time the Foundation has bought land for communities, they’ve also purchased land to develop park projects, including the Blue Water River Walk. 

“We’re in the business of owning real estate when it really advances philanthropy and community assets,” he says. “We feel very comfortable in placemaking projects in our downtowns and in our rural communities.”

Maiers says this project is just one example of the Foundation’s commitment to collaborate more with smaller and rural communities across the region. 

“We’re working with 10 smaller communities, and Kimball Township is one of them,” he says. “All is part of our efforts to really try to enhance, grow, and build on outdoor recreation amenities in rural St. Clair County. Each one of those 10 communities has a project identified, and each is just at different phases of our involvement and where they are in the project. We’re looking forward to it.”

There’s Still Work To Do 

Although the project is in the works, Usakowski says the public won’t be able to access the park for a while. The township is currently applying for the Michigan DNR grant, which needs to be reviewed and approved. Typically, it takes over a year before funding for the projects begins.

“The property purchase piece for us is going to be probably somewhere around June of next year,” he says. “At that point, then we can start looking at the process of how we’re going to develop that park and install the handicap-accessible canoe and kayak launch.”

The Township also plans on using a portion of its $900,000 ARPA funds from the federal government to match the DNR grant. 

Usakowski says the verbal response he’s heard from people about the project is very positive. 

“People are really excited that we’re doing it,” he says. “It just makes a lot of sense for that particular location. Most of the people I talk to, the first thing they say is, ‘wow, we can finally stop parking on the side of Wadhams Road,’ which is a huge safety concern.”

“I think it’s great that the Community Foundation has been a good partner on this,” Usakowski says. “I’m looking forward to getting the grants so that we can move forward with the project.”

To learn more about how you, your family or company can support rural work in your community, please contact Jackie Hanton, Vice President, at [email protected] or 810-984-4761.