Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition Executive Director, Jim Vivian III (left), presented Keweenaw County Board Chairman Don Piche a check donation of just under $6,000 to assist with the costs incurred in the Gratiot River Park project. The check was presented during the July regular board.

EAGLE RIVER, Mich. — The Keweenaw County Board received a donation of $5,851 from the Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition (KORC) for the county’s Gratiot River Park. The check was presented during the regular monthly board meeting on Wednesday.

“Back on Feb. 14,” Jim Vivian, III, KORC executive director, told the board, “myself, Gina Nicholas, and Guy Meadows, met with (Board Chairman) Don Piche to explain to him what KORC was about.”

KORC, he said, is an organization comprised of community members, land owners, organizations and businesses, with the intent of assisting Keweenaw County and the state in acquiring lands for future generations, to help with preserving the county’s quality of life, as well as its economic stability.

At the Feb. meeting, the KORC members shared with Piche of the organization’s intention to submit a letter to all of the residents of the county, where they were able to obtain a list of names from the county to send the letters.

“That was Feb. 14,” Vivian said. “On April 14, roughly two months later, we sent roughly 2,600 letters throughout the country to landowners of property in Keweenaw County.”

With that, Vivian said, KORC was able to obtain 350 people and organizations to support KORC in its mission to obtain land for future generations.

Also during that meeting, Vivian said Piche was asked what KORC could do to assist the county. Piche told the committee that the Gratiot River Park took a significant amount of money from the county to match the park’s grant, and asked whether KORC could raise funds for the park.

“We told him yes, we would do that,” said Vivian. “We mailed out the initial letter in mid-April, and two-and-a-half months later, we (had) raised enough money to make a donation to the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners for $5,851.”

The Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition was formed in late 2019 by a group of Keweenaw County residents and landowners. The goal of the coalition is to combine resources and opportunities into a community-wide effort to take back management, ownership, and control of the outdoor natural recreation lands of the county. The KORC Steering Committee includes individual outdoor sports enthusiasts, including hunters and anglers, along with ATV, snowmobile, mountain bike and trail club officers, canoeing, boating and kayaking paddlers. Also included are conservation groups, scientists, educators, and local business owners.