The City of Houghton has recently been awarded gold status by the Michigan Green Communities Challenge for its efforts in environmental, sustainable and accessible city planning. (Photo courtesy of Visit Keweenaw)

HOUGHTON — The City of Houghton has always been an adaptable community. Any obstacle thrown its way has been overcome, including environmental and sustainability concerns. Houghton has been recently recognized by the Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Challenge for its efforts. 

According to a press release sent out by the city, gold status was awarded for its efforts in a variety of categories, including planning, land use, climate resilience, energy efficiency, renewable energy, materials management, water protection, clean mobility, and community engagement.

In the release, City Manager Eric Waara said the work the Houghton is getting its flowers for years of sustainable practices.

“Much of this recognition reflects work the city has been doing for many years,” he said. “Our ongoing focus on improving operations, neighborhoods, and the waterfront aligns well with the best practices in the MGC program.”

The application for the Green Communities Challenge was not on Houghton’s radar for a while, until Community and Business Development Manager Danielle Perkowitz researched further.

Perkowitz said she was suggested to fill out the Green Communities application by Rachael Pressley of WUPPDR. She said after looking at the application and its requirements, it was a no-brainer. 

“I was reading through it [the application], and I thought we definitely are in a really good position to achieve some sort of green community status,” she said. “As I was going through the application, I realized, ‘wow, we are hitting quite a few of those benchmarks.'”

According to the release, MGC’s program is free and open to all local governments to participate in. It serves as a benchmark and data point for communities and their efforts to make Michigan economically and environmentally competitive. 

Perkowitz said she highlighted a lot of the city’s accessibility efforts in the application, including wheelchair accessibility, newer sidewalks and walking paths, as well as the shoreline project.

“That is something that I think is important to the city and something that, obviously, we definitely can do even more to support accessibility,” she said. “But we are taking those steps to just continue to make Houghton better and more accessible for all of the residents.”

There are four honors for cities to receive: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Perkowitz said she hopes Houghton could achieve platinum status one day, but the requirements are more stringent and empirical; it would require a more concerted effort on the city’s end. 

For more information on green communities in Michigan, visit migreencommunities.com.