MML Review Magazine Fall 2026

SPARK TO PARK

From Spark to Park: Standish Debuts Its New Nature Trail

STANDISH pop. 1,458 ARENAC COUNTY pop. 15,002

By Emily Pinsuwan

It all started with a Spark (Grant). In 2023, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reached out to 35 designated “opportunity communities,” with—naturally—an opportunity. Thanks to the Building Michigan Together Plan, signed by the governor in 2022, the Spark Grant program offered $30 million for “projects that provide safe, accessible, public recreation facilities and spaces to improve people’s health, introduce new recreation experiences, build on existing park infrastructure and make it easier for people to enjoy both indoor and outdoor recreation,” according to the DNR website. It is administered by the Council of Michigan Foundations. One of those opportunity communities was the City of Standish. “We were singled out as not being ‘patted on the back’ in the past,” says City Manager Brad Mason. “We were an underserved area in their eyes for their projects.

“So, they put us all at the front of the line.” A farming town and the seat of Arenac County, Standish is something of a pass-through for Michigan tourists, located at an intersection of roads leading to popular vacation towns like Tawas, Oscoda, and West Branch. “When you go off to college and tell people you’re from Standish, they go, ‘I drive through there,’” laughs Mason. “Everybody drives through Standish.” The City didn’t own any undeveloped land for which it could take advantage of the DNR’s offer. However, Arenac County did: A 53-acre parcel, formerly a farm in the mid-20th century, off US-23, which it had originally purchased to relocate its fairgrounds. Because a subsequent Department of Energy, Great Lakes, and the Environment (EGLE) survey had shown a large quantity of wetlands on the site, development had been declared a no-go.

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