Grand Island Rim Trail Improvements Great American Outdoor Act Project

The Hiawatha National Forest is reinvesting into projects across the forest by the Great American Outdoor Act. One project that is a part of this reinvestment is the Grand Island National Recreation Area Rim Trail.

The Grand Island Rim Trail is approximately 20.5 miles long and supports hiking and mountain biking around Grand Island National Recreation Area. This vital trail system allows visitors to access to ten individual or group campsites. In addition, this trail provides day users with the opportunity to see numerous overlooks, beaches, and day use areas, most notably, Northeast Point and North Beach.

When the island was transferred to the Hiawatha National Forest in 1990, the Forest Service inherited a trail system that was designed for carriages and buggies in the 1900s that lacked the features necessary for a sustainable trail system. Over the last 32 years, culverts, trail bridges, and other trail features have been installed on the trail to alleviate wet areas. However, there are still sections of the Rim Trail that have muddy, wet, and eroding areas that need to be addressed for public health and safety and resource concerns. 24 project locations along the Rim Trail are slated to be improved through this project.

With the upcoming solicitation planned for spring 2024, there is need to coordinate a site visit with interested contractors this fall so that interested contractors have the opportunity to see the project locations, ask questions, understand the scope of the work to be solicited for bid. and keep the project on interested contractors radar for workload consideration in 2024.

We are interested in hosting a site visit for interested contractors on Wednesday October 4th, 2023 at 10 a.m.. Meet up location will be N8016 Grand Island Landing Road Munising, MI 49862. The Forest Service request that interested parties provide interest responses by 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), September 29, 2023 so that staff can plan accordingly for logistic to get the the project locations around the Grand Island Rim Trail (see the attached map and brief statement of work). There will be an estimated 3-4 hours for the site visit. Please direct your responses and questions to Scott Berry (Scott.Berry@usda.gov) and Dave Devet (david.devet@usda.gov).