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Hewen's Creek Park is Ypsilanti Township's largest and newest park, with 190 acres near the corner of Bemis and Hitchingham Roads acquired in 1999 and not yet formally developed. The park area is a mixture of old farmland, wetlands, and lowland forests. A 10-acre pond is popular with fishermen, and volunteers from the Michigan Mountain Bike Association are developing a trail through the park.

The land was purchased for $2m, including a $1.5m grant from the Michigan DNR.

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Ypsilanti Township administers the park, but the trail system was the result of much volunteer labor from mountain bikers and other trail users. In fact, the construction of this trail and the Munson Park trail in Monroe should be studied by local governments to see how public-private-volunteer coalitions can work. In both cases local bike shops provided logistical support. Governments provided the land and limited supplies. And local bikers and hikers planned and constructed the trails. The Michigan Mountain Bike Association has a particularly significant role in much southeast Michigan trailcare. I don’t think that it gets enough credit. I’d invite you to follow the MMBA volunteer forums linked below to see the evolution of this particular trail.

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