07/19/2006

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
From left, Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation officials Jeanne Snow and Alison Metiva talk with Traverse Area Community Sailing Club member Heather Clark and son Finley on Tuesday in Hull Park, where a ceremony marked the 30th anniversary of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.

Trust fund celebrates 30 years

Several projects have benefitted from program

BY CHRISTINE FINGER

cfinger@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — It was no coincidence that Hull Park was chosen as the place to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.

The park, nestled behind the Traverse Area District Library on Boardman Lake, is one of more than 1,200 state and local recreation projects funded with grants from the trust. Traverse City received $365,730 in 1999 to help develop the site.

Members of local land conservancy groups, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and state natural resources leaders gathered Tuesday at Hull Park to mark the trust fund's anniversary.

Former Gov. William Milliken in 1976 signed legislation that established the Natural Resources Trust Fund, a program supported by annual revenues from the development of state-owned mineral, oil and gas resources. The fund provides matching grants to local governments and state agencies for land acquisition, public outdoor recreation projects and recreation facility development.

Other trust fund projects in northern Michigan include the Boardman Lake Trail, Traverse City State Park, the Grass River Natural Area in Antrim County and the Yuba Creek Natural Area in Acme Township.

Granholm praised Milliken for initiating the trust fund, which since its formation has granted more than $600 million to outdoor recreation projects. She also pledged that the trust fund will prioritize funding to help connect the state's trail systems by 2009.

"We need many partners to make this happen," she said.

Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said partnerships with local government and groups — like the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and the Leelanau Conservancy — have fueled the trust fund's success. The future depends on educating the next generation of conservationists, she said.