Working to establish the Greater Cadillac Area as a premier destination in the State of Michigan for family friendly ORV recreation.

Building on collaborative efforts supportive of the tourism economy, we intend to create well-considered resources for defining and maintaining a trail system experience that drives ORV users to our region in all four seasons of the year, while encouraging responsible recreation practices. STEWARDSHIP IS A TOP PRIORITY FOR THIS PROJECT. We recognize that with the promotion of tourism for motorized and non-motorized recreation opportunities also comes the responsibility to guide users in the proper stewardship of our natural resources.

PHASE 1: Research, Development & Planning – Ongoing

PHASE 2: Education & Asset Development – In Progress

PHASE 3: Wayfinding Development – In Progress

PHASE 4: Installation/Launch & Promotion – Coming up

PROPOSED PROJECT LAUNCH –  Fall 2023

Please stay tuned to regular updates on progress in the page below:

Updated: September 6, 2023

We had a great meeting of a variety of stakeholders to review progress and update everyone on next steps and plans for a soft, digital launch this fall. A full roll out with printed maps, wayfinding and site improvements slated for Spring of 2024. See presentation below for more detailed information that was shared with the group at Sunset Shores today.

Updated: August 18, 2023

Our mapping has been reviewed by law enforcement and we are now ready for the final stages of approval through the local townships touched in our Phase 1 “scenic ride” mapping. We are also set to host another full group meeting of ORV stakeholders on Wednesday, September 6th at 3pm at Sunset Shores Resort in Cadillac. Invitations to this meeting will go out soon!

We also had the pleasure of meeting with representatives of the newly established Benzie Manistee Dirtbirds and the Benzie Manistee Snowbirds. They are working hard on many of the same types of ORV routing and things as our team here in Cadillac. We look forward to collaborating from a connectivity standpoint with our neighbors to the west!

More exciting news to share as we are now partnering with Can-Am Off-Road (thank you to TreadLightly! for connecting us) on the wayfinding and signage for this project! They have granted us a generous amount of funding, enough to purchase 3 kiosks for high traffic areas and a staging area.

Updated: June 28, 2023

We are working through the first stages of the branding process with emphasis on safety and education. Stay tuned as we plan to unveil some of that to the larger internal working group soon. We received some exciting news that we will be awarded additional grant funding through one of our national partnerships – more on that soon!

Just this week, we made a trip out to Wellston to have our phase 1 Scenic Ride map approved by the US Forest Service team. After more input from the Wexford County Road Commission and some additional adjustments this week we will connect with local law enforcement next for the finalization of phase 1 mapping. Expect an ORV full stakeholder group update very soon!

Updated: March 10, 2023

This week we had the opportunity to discuss the ORV initiative on the 9&10 Morning Show, Good Day Northern Michigan!

Later the same week we were able to attend the North Country Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (NCCISMA) annual meeting in Baldwin, MI. Lots of great presentations and topics discussed about invasives in our area and ORV’s specifically.

Progress continues on mapping discussions! Stay tuned for more updates…

Updated: February 20, 2023

With a master base map now complete, several potential “scenic ride” options for ORV’s have been discussed using existing roads and trails within Wexford County. Discussions between top land management stakeholders all centered around maintaining integrity of the land, ORV user safety and experience, as well as the interests of local business owners, residents and all other primary stakeholders involved. Connectivity to neighboring networks are also being discussed. Proposed “scenic rides” for our 2023 version of the user map are currently under review.

We continue to build our list of points of interest to be considered as stopping points along these “scenic rides” and coordinators of this work group will be reaching out to more stakeholders to collect feedback on the initial version of the proposed map.

Updated: January 20, 2023

Base mapping is nearly complete after very productive discussions between key local partners, including the US Forest Service and the MDNR. We will now circle back to local law enforcement and other stakeholders about next steps in identifying potential issues related to recommended routing. The press release below outlines two national partnerships we have entered at the start of this year. This step forward will be important as we move further into the stewardship messaging, branding and wayfinding phases of this project.

Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau Partners with Tread Lightly! & Leave No Trace for Sustainability in Local Tourism

Updated: November 29, 2022

GIS Base mapping is in progress and we have had preliminary discussions with local law enforcement and other stakeholders about first steps in identifying priorities and known issues related to connectivity. The press release below explains funding sources and more details on this initiative.

NEXT STEPS:

Stakeholders will be emailed with various workgroup opportunities over the next several months – currently these are:

• Mapping/Routing & Stakeholder Discussions – In Progress
• Zoning/Land Use
• Law Enforcement
• Maintenance/Stewardship
• Organizational Partnerships
• Branding & Marketing