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August 14, 2026
Marquette community collaborations focus of Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund 50th anniversary event
A lakeshore park and accessible beach, an all-inclusive children’s playground and full-service marina, an ever-expanding multiuse trail honoring the iron industry – these Marquette-area gems are among the numerous projects that have helped make Michigan’s Upper Peninsula a premier destination for outdoor enthusiasts.
They’re also projects that came to life because of community collaborations coupled with Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund support. Next week, along the shores of Lake Superior these significant investments will be recognized as part of the Trust Fund’s 50th anniversary celebrations taking place around the state in 2026.
"The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund has been instrumental in investing in the Upper Peninsula's parks, trails and recreational amenities, creating destinations for lovers of outdoors – where people can fish, camp, hike, bike and connect with one another to enjoy the stunning scenery and abundant natural resources of the U.P.," said Jon Mayes, DNR recreation grants unit manager. "We're incredibly grateful to our partner organizations for their generous support of these meaningful projects."
On Tuesday, Aug. 18, representatives from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, city of Marquette, Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority and other community members will gather on Presque Isle to kick off a day of special speakers and tour stops at outdoor spaces including Clark Lambros' Beach Park, Ellwood A. Mattson Lower Harbor Park Marina and inclusive playground, Father Marquette Park and the Iron Ore Heritage Trail. The group also will visit the Michigan Iron Industry Museum for a Trust Fund 50th anniversary presentation and reception.
Collectively, Trust Fund-supported projects along the Marquette lakefront and throughout the U.P. – for both land acquisition and park and trail improvements – total more than $116 million in community investment. This includes $17 million in Marquette County alone. Here’s more about each of these projects.
Clark Lambros' Beach Park – land acquisition
Grant Funding: $1,440,000
Overview: This 9-acre beachfront park, established in memory of longtime local businessman Clark Lambros and his son Clark Lambros, Jr., opened in 2016. Lambros’ lifelong partner Michele Butler donated the property to the city of Marquette, using a grant from the Trust Fund along with her own personal contributions to build the park with design assistance from local landscape architect Bill Sanders and architect Ken Czapski.
The park includes 1,500 linear feet of frontage on Lake Superior and 500 linear feet of shoreline on the Dead River. It features restrooms, walkways, picnic tables, kayak launch and a safe and accessible swimming beach protected from the surf by the harbor break wall. Butler continues to support improvements through an endowment she created for long-term care of Clark Lambros' Beach Park. “It’s a really neat project,” Sanders said. “Michele and her family did the city proud.”
Ellwood A. Mattson Lower Harbor Park Marina
Grant Funding: $375,000
Overview: Trust Fund support provided for the development of a $2.5 million modern, full-service 112-slip marina facility serving Lake Superior boaters.
Ellwood A. Mattson Lower Harbor Park inclusive playground
Grant Funding: $300,000
Overview: This longtime play area is now known as "Kids Cove II - Playground for All" following a major upgrade providing a space for children of all abilities and a gathering place at Mattson Lower Harbor Park for visitors and residents alike. The renovated playground opened in 2024 thanks to a collaboration between the city, Marquette Playgrounds for All and the Marquette Rotary Club. The Trust Fund grant facilitated a community fundraising drive to complete the vision for the playground, which was intentionally designed to be inclusive and not simply “an accessible park,” said Sanders, who served as the design lead on the project. “It’s intended to put all kids together, so they can learn from one another and become friends – that, to us, is what inclusion is all about,” he said. “We built a playground for every child.”
Iron Ore Heritage Trail – Carp River/Lake Superior
Grant Funding: multiple grants totaling $1,640,600
Overview: The 47-mile Iron Ore Heritage Trail – a year-round, multiuse trail crossing the Marquette Iron Range through multiple communities in Marquette County – gives visitors glimpses into the region's mining heritage and bountiful natural resources through interpretive signage along the trail. Trust Fund grants have supported trail land acquisition, interpretive and wayfinding signage, trail and trailhead development, site furnishings and amenities. “One of the main things that makes it unique is the diversity of it. It has a variety of uses – it’s a true multiuse trail,” said Bob Hendrickson, trail administrator for the Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority. “There are multiple surface grades, which help create a unique experience. Each municipality has its own culture around the trail, how they perceive the trail and use the trail … the Heritage Trail is something everyone can do. It really has impacted the entire county."
Father Marquette Park – accessibility improvements
Grant Funding: $140,000
Overview: Redevelopment of this historic site provides access for people of all abilities. This includes an accessible pathway to a historic bronze sculpture of the famed explorer, Father Jacques Marquette. This park provides dramatic vistas of Lake Superior and serves as a trailhead for the Iron Belle/Iron Ore Heritage/North Country Scenic trails, which pass below the park at street level. Project improvements include bike racks, benches and native Michigan landscaping. Father Marquette Park is adjacent to the Marquette regional trailhead and cultural arts center. In-progress improvements include eventual restrooms that will be available to trail users.
Michigan Iron Industry Museum – geology and overlook trails
Grant Funding: $261,600
Overview: Funding has supported the creation of a trailhead and nonmotorized interpretive trails along the Carp River, offering visitors and Iron Ore Heritage Trail users scenic and historical overlooks along the paths.
“The trails provide an opportunity to interpret the geology of the region, Native American use of trees and plants, and an overlook of the Carp River Forge historic site,” said Barry James, historian at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum. “There’s also a vista of the Carp River valley with the Tilden mine visible 9 miles off in the distance.”
These onsite trails provide “a great combination of an indoor and outdoor experience for our visitors,” James said. “Seeing how our trails have expanded our visitors’ experiences played a significant role in our decision to acquire the property that will eventually let people experience more of the Carp River, its waterfall and the reason our museum is where it is – the site of the first iron forge in the Lake Superior region.”
During this anniversary year, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund is highlighting investment and impact in several areas of the state. In April, it was Flint; in June, it was Detroit. A final community tour day is set for Traverse City, Sept. 29.
Established in 1976 and enshrined for permanent protection in Michigan’s Constitution, the Trust Fund provides grants to state and local governments to purchase land for conservation or recreation, and for development of public outdoor recreation facilities.
The Trust Fund is financed through interest earnings on royalties from state-owned oil, gas and mineral leases and administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The concept – that money received from the use of the state’s nonrenewable resources should benefit all generations of Michigan citizens – was unique at the time of its inception in 1976, and Michigan remains one of the few states in the country with such a program.
For over five decades, the Trust Fund has awarded nearly $1.4 billion to buy land or land rights, and to develop quality outdoor recreational facilities and opportunities in Michigan.
For more information about the Trust Fund 50th anniversary or any of the community celebration/tour events, contact Jon Mayes at 517-284-5954.
Note to editors: Accompanying photos are available below for download. Caption information follows. Photos courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources unless noted otherwise.
Contact: Jon Mayes, 517-284-5954
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will lower the water level of Tomahawk Creek Flooding, a popular fishing destination in Presque Isle and Montmorency counties, following a state inspection that identified concerns with the dam that creates the impoundment.
Among the wildest of Michigan’s wild places, the rugged Michigamme Highlands has some of the most important natural geography in the Great Lakes region. Made up of vast forests, sparkling lakes, winding trout streams and granite outcroppings, the landscape is truly spectacular. Now, thanks entirely to grant funding, over 73,000 acres of this beautiful landscape has been protected and is available for everyone to enjoy.
In the wake of an eastern massasauga rattlesnake bite at a state-managed park in Oakland County last month, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is urging the public not to harm, harass or attempt to capture the threatened species.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, with funding provided by the DTE Foundation and in partnership with ReLeaf Michigan, is offering grant support for community tree planting projects across the state. Up to $95,000 is available through the DTE Foundation Tree Planting Grant Program.
Those interested in learning more about the upcoming removal of three aging dams in the eastern Upper Peninsula — Brockies Pond Dam (Luce County), Millecoquins Pond Dam (Mackinac County) and Silver Creek Pond Dam (Luce County) — are welcome to attend a public meeting 6-7:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 3, in Newberry. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will host the meeting at the DNR’s Newberry Customer Service Center, 5666 State Highway M-123.
One of Ludington State Park’s most scenic and iconic attractions is getting a major upgrade.
Registration is open for more than 50 in-person hunter safety education classes, all taking place during the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Hunter Safety Education Week Aug. 10-16.
Join the Michigan Department of Natural Resources at a public meeting Monday, Aug. 10, to learn about and share feedback on a new draft general management plan for W.J. Hayes State Park, primarily located in Lenawee County.
