Iron County receives coastal management grant

HURLEY — Iron County has received a $25,000 costal management grant from the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Division of Intergovernmental Relations, which will enable the county to continue its effort to develop its trail system.

The money will be used to research the ownership of the former Soo Line railroad grade between the two branches of the Montreal River, according to Iron County Board Chairman Joe Pinardi.

“I’m glad we’re going forward with (the trail process),” Pinardi told the Daily Globe Friday. “This money will be used for finding out who actually owns the property we are going to try and buy with the next grant.”

Both motorized and non-motorized trail advocates in the county have been exploring the possibility of purchasing the rail grade from Hurley to the Ashland County line.

According to the grant agreement, the county also provided $25,000 in matching funds.

The grant would also help pay for work on creating a Hurley trailhead between U.S. 51 and the Montreal River and a trailhead in Montreal.

“This project hopes to turn the attention of community residents toward these important ecological resources by developing interpretive parks, viewing areas and trailheads along the shores of the East and West branches of the Montreal River,” the grant agreement reads, “while also building motorized and non-motorized trails connecting the two rivers.”

Non-motorized trail advocates have been developing a plan to build a trail from the Montreal River in Hurley to the ski trails in Montreal, with a trailhead at Cary Park.

This trail would connect with the Western Gateway Trail, which will run between Ironwood and Wakefield, and ultimately the Iron Belle Trail between Ironwood and Detroit’s Belle Isle.

Pinardi also told the Globe the effort to pave the two blocks between the river and U.S. 51 near Maple Street has been delayed due to the discovery of a sinkhole near the trail.

Pinardi said the hole was the apparent result of a storm sewer being damaged over the winter.

City workers were attempting to repair the sewer Thursday, but Pinardi said their equipment couldn’t dig a deep enough hole to reach the sewer.

He plans to see if the city of Hurley can borrow the video equipment being used to tape Ironwood’s sewer system to locate exactly where the problem area is and how deep it is.

He then plans to use county equipment to access it.

Pinardi said it was good the problem was discovered prior to the section of trail being paved as the paved portion would have been damaged during the work.

The paving work has already been payed for, Pinardi explained, using the excess funds from the “Bridge the Gap,” fundraising campaign to refurbish the old Soo Line bridge over the river connecting Ironwood and Hurley trails.