Below is an interview with Poto Chapter member, Gary Anderson.
Gary has worked at Toyota for 15 years as a senior assembly technician in the Technical Center in the Prototype Development department. He was nominated by an engineering manager for Toyota’s Community Stars Volunteer Award. This annual award is given to five Toyota employees who donate their time and energy to benefit their community outside of work.
When did you become involved with the MMBA and why?
I joined the MMBA Poto chapter in 1992 because I wanted to be involved and informed with this dynamic organization and what it does for riders. I always made it a point to show up at 2-3 trail maintenance days a year and donated 10-15 hours.
When was the Morton-Taylor trail created and why?
The Morton-Taylor trails are within the Lower Huron Recreation Area which is on Wayne County/Canton Township property. The citizens of Canton were asking for outdoor recreational trails, so the township developed several miles of crushed/packed gravel multi-use pathways with a parking lot, signage and soon many wooden bridges that will cross the Rouge River. This project started in 2006-2007.
Why did you get involved with this trail?
I saw an article in a local newsletter asking for volunteers to help out with the trail system doing various tasks, and I attended one of the early planning meetings. I noticed that there were no plans for any singletrack mountain biking trails. At the end of the meeting, I approached the Parks & Rec. manager, told him that I was a MMBA member and asked if he would be interested in me heading up an effort to do so. He said yes and within a few weeks, I met with the two township engineers responsible for the project and submitted a proposal of what I wanted to do. They gave me the green light, and I started working on laying out and cutting trails in December 2007.
I had always thought that Canton should have a trail and wanted to take this big challenge on using the experience I got from many trail days at the Brighton, Novi, Olson and Hewen’s Creek trails.
How many hours did you devote?
I have kept a very accurate log of my hours and they are as follows:
2007- 27 hours 2008 – 234 hours 2009 - 99 hours (as of June)
What makes the trail unique?
The trail is unique because it is the first MMBA built trail in the
Plymouth/Canton area. It is bordered by many sub-divisions, and the system will eventually run from the center of Canton up to and just past the 275 bike path connecting many users with recreational possibilities and a trail that they can ride to and from their homes.
What were some of the challenges you faced? Rewards?
The challenges I faced were many hours of hard work with minimal
volunteer assistance and unexpected maintenance to keep the trail
clear until it gets more user traffic. Rewards – running into people on the trail that say they use it on a regular basis and really enjoy coming out there to exercise. I recently received an honor called the Community Achiever Award from Canton Township for my work.
Anything else you’d like to include?
I would like to include that people reading this should go to the trail guide, print the trail map in color in an 11 x 17 format, bring a little sense of adventure and go hike/bike it and help get it “ridden” in.
There are 5-7 large wooden bridges being installed by the township in late summer/early fall which will help connect the various sections of the path/trail and there will be more singletrack developed in the next year or two. Please come out and enjoy the system with your friends/family.
Submitted by:
Kirstin Bohac
Poto Chapter Secretary
