MECCA Trails all public after land acquisition

By RICHARD JENKINS

rjenkins@yourdailyglobe.com

MERCER, Wis. — The MECCA Cross Country Ski Trails are now entirely on public land after the Iron County Forestry Department completed a recent land purchase.

The purchase acquired a 40-acre parcel that the trail had been on for years after the past owner, Jim Kichak, was interested in selling it.

“We’re very pleased to now be on 100% public property. It gives us a long-term ability to plan and expand and enhance the trails without risk of having to reroute trails,” said MECCA President Mike Shouldice. “Jim Kichak was very generous for many, many years — I’m guessing decades — in letting us cross his property. But when he decided to sell, we were very concerned that a new property owner might say, ‘I don’t want people crossing my property, I don’t want those ski trails on my property.’”

The $20,000 purchase — which was completed in late February — was funded through a pair of grants, said Iron County Forester Eric Peterson.

Iron County forestry received a $10,000 Knowles-Nelson for 50% of the purchase, with MECCA providing the local match through a grant it received.

“We got a grant that was 50% of the purchase and ancillary costs, so appraisals and stuff like that, from the state,” Peterson said. “Then MECCA is contributing the other 50% because they got the grant from the Gogebic Range Health Foundation.”

Both the forestry and ski club will spend a little over $10,000 each, according to Peterson and Shouldice, once the costs associated with the transaction are finalized.

Shouldice praised the club’s collaboration with the public entities — Iron County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the town of Mercer and the Mercer Sanitary District — that own the land that the trails are on.

“We’ve got an excellent working relationship with all four of those governmental bodies,” Shouldice said. “They all support, and they all appreciate, MECCA and the recreational venue we provide.”

Andrea Newby, the health foundation’s executive director, said she was excited the purchase was complete and the deal supports the local trail system and the foundation’s mission of promoting community health.

“Public use recreational trails ensure long term sustainability for the trail system. It’s also exciting to see MECCA and Iron County investing in the silent sports recreational trails as it’s a strategy to building healthy communities and healthy people. Our mission is to advance community health across the Gogebic Range and one way this can be done is by developing a built environment i.e. trails, that encourage and promote people to walk and bike,” Newby said. “When communities build trails that create walkable and bikeable access to community amenities, there are both economic, community health and individual health benefits, this is the type of impact that we want to see.”

Shouldice credited the club’s volunteers for keeping the trails operating.

“We’ve got a very strong volunteer organization that put in approximately 3,500 to 4,000 hours of time last year,” he said, adding the volunteers handle everything from opening and closing the facility to grooming and general upkeep.

Although the trails are mostly known as a winter destination, they are expanding to provide recreational opportunities for the entire year.

“We’re open year-round for hiking and the hunting season, and then in the winter we’re primarily skiing and snowshoeing,” Shouldice said.