- Founded
- 2017
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- trailsrecreationgovernancecommunity
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The Beaver Island Archipelago Trails Association is a volunteer body founded in 2017 to maintain and extend the trail system of the Beaver Island archipelago. It succeeded a Peaine Township trails committee, works under annual special-use permits from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and is the publisher of the per-trail sheets and the draft trail master plan the archive holds.
Formation
The association was convened in mid-2017 through a public meeting advertised by Peaine Township, which stated that its purpose would be “the care, maintenance, and improvement of Beaver Island archipelago trails for recreational use”, and that its formation had been prompted by constraints limiting the township’s own trails committee. Its own draft master plan dates the founding and incorporation to 2017 and states the mission:
To develop and sustain a trails system for the archipelago that serves the needs of hikers, bikers, kayakers, birders, and other outdoor enthusiasts with loop trails and destination sites which capture and interpret the unique natural, cultural, and historical elements of the islands so that people may explore them in ways that are mindful of the need to preserve and protect them for recreation, exercise, education, and renewal.
Accounts differ on the exact founding date within June 2017; the archive has not resolved it.
Work
The association’s documented activity falls into four kinds:
- Clearing — volunteer work parties on named trails, including the Blue Trail, Buffalo’s Camp Trail and 7 Bridges Trail, and on Danes Trail on Garden Island.
- Publishing — per-trail sheets issued in July 2019, each carrying an explicit disclaimer that they are not official DNR maps.
- Signage — installation of the Beaver Island Water Trail’s site signs in 2018.
- Planning — a draft trail master plan work plan circulated for stakeholder review in October 2021, and participation in DNR-sponsored planning sessions.
It operates under permits rather than ownership: a 2018 motion of the Northern Lake Michigan Islands Collaborative directed the DNR to work with the association, tribal governments and others on special-use permits to maintain existing trails, renewable annually.
Evidence and limits
The archive holds the association’s own publications and the minutes of the public bodies it works with. It holds no membership roll, no financial record, no incorporation document, and no minutes of the association’s own board. Its officers are known only from meeting announcements and its published contact addresses. Statements here about its activity therefore rest on what it and the townships published, not on internal records.
Open questions
- What is the association’s exact founding date, and does an incorporation record survive?
- Was the trail master plan of 2021 ever completed, and if so, adopted by either township?
- Does a copy of the seventh per-trail sheet, for Camp 3, survive?
- Which special-use permits have actually been issued and renewed since 2018?
If you can answer any of these, or correct anything above, the archive wants to hear it — see Corrections.
See also
The dated record
Sources
- States BIATA's 2017 founding and mission verbatim, and the finding that most routes called trails on the island are county roads or DNR-era logging two-tracks. A stakeholder-review draft, not an adopted plan.
- Names the Blue Trail's alternative name, its start point, its spur to Buffalo's Camp Trail, lettered waypoint distances, and the 7.5-mile loop figure. Carries the disclaimer that BIATA maps are not official DNR maps.governance · peaine · trails · bita-blue-trail-2019-07
- Gives the trail's length as 42 miles (68 km) and documents the Land Use Order process for the nine state-owned access sites. Funded through the Michigan Coastal Zone Management Program.governance · peaine · trails · bi-water-trail-full-plan
Added 16 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Archipelago Trails Association”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/organizations/beaver-island-archipelago-trails-association/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Island Archipelago Trails Association, 'Proposed Work Plan: Beaver Island Trail Master Plan', draft for stakeholder review, 15 October 2021. (and 2 further sources listed on the page).
BibTeX for “Beaver Island Archipelago Trails Association”RIS for “Beaver Island Archipelago Trails Association”