By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
Recommendations are out for what park and recreation projects will be funded in 2019 from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and there’s been a mixed reaction from area governmental leaders.
While the leaders of communities where projects have been recommended for funding are happy, those who fell short of getting a recommendation are questioning the selection process used this year.
The trust fund board voted in December to recommend that the legislature and governor approve the awarding of $26 million in grants for development and acquisition projects. The legislature is expected to vote on the grant recommendations in late winter or early spring.
The $26 million total includes $7.4 million for 34 recreation 
development projects and $18.6 million for 30 land acquisition projects. A total of 158 applications seeking more than $71 million were received by the April 1, 2018 deadline. The trust fund had given out nearly twice as much grant money the previous two years.
In Dowagiac, a proposal to acquire land to link existing trails looks to be on schedule to get a grant in 2019. City Manager Kevin Anderson said the city expects to get $56,200 from the state and match it with nearly $20,000 in local funds.
Anderson said the grant is for acquisition of land and not the actual construction of a trail. The plan is to purchase a 50-foot wide right-of-way strip of land from the Dowagiac Elks Club for the trail. The easement is along the south side of Dowagiac Creek between Cass Avenue and Riverside Drive.
“For us, this is the next logical extension of the work we’re doing at the Cass Avenue Park,” he said. “We got that grant last year and should start work there in the spring.”
Anderson said there won’t be enough time to get all the appraisal and title work done connected with acquiring the right-of-way to submit a grant application in early 2019 for the actual trail construction. He expects that application to be made in early 2020.
The project will eventually create a trail system connecting the new Cass Avenue Park to Riverside Drive via the Elks Club land and then to existing trails in the city cemetery. From the cemetery, the trail system would eventually connect up to both Rudolphi Woods and the Southwestern Michigan College campus.
A second Dowagiac grant application to upgrade Rudy Park off of M-62 failed to be recommended for funding despite scoring better than other applications that will be funded. Anderson said the city may take a step back to see if there are other ways to fund parking, landscaping and other improvements there.
Meanwhile, Berrien Township Supervisor Bryan Bixby is questioning why the township’s application to make improvements at Range Line Park wasn’t recommended for funding even though it scored higher than other applications that did receive funding.
Berrien Township applied earlier this year for the trust fund grant, asking for $300,000 to pay for improvements at Range Line Park including the establishment of a trail head for a future trail between Niles and Berrien Springs. The township pledged to put $111,000 toward the project.
“I’m not real happy, we had more points than other projects that were funded,” Bixby said. “I guess the governor had too many pet projects he wanted to do. The state did a real disservice to the township and the people of the Berrien Springs area.”
This was the second time that the Range Line grant request was rejected. Bixby said he expects the township board will submit another application for the park improvements by the April 1, 2019 deadline.
In Berrien Township’s case, 19 recreational development applications scoring lower than they did are expected to receive funding. Of those 19, six will be getting $300,000 which is the same amount Berrien Township was asking for. Eight of the 15 projects scoring better than Berrien Township were also for $300,000.
Southwest Michigan Planning Commission senior planner Marcy Hamilton said the trust fund board decided this year to fund all development grants under $50,000 and all acquisition grants under $100,000 regardless of their application scoring.
In addition, the trust fund board decided to make a priority of funding several Iron Belle Trail projects. The Iron Belle Trail runs for 2,000 miles, from the western Upper Peninsula to Belle Isle in Detroit. The trail is nearly 70 percent complete and often uses existing trails and bicycle paths. When done, it will be the longest state-designated trail in the nation.
Hamilton said funding for the trust fund grants has also changed in recent years. The grants initially were funded from the interest earned on oil, natural gas and other mineral royalties. In 2011, that changed with royalty revenues moved to fund the State Park Endowment Fund and the trust fund operating on investment interest.
Land acquisition grant recommendations were more straight forward. The trust fund board recommended the top 21 requests in terms of scoring. That included the third highest scoring application, that of the village of Grand Beach for $2.4 million to acquire 42 acres to establish the Grand Beach Nature Preserve.
Three other Berrien County grant application, an acquisition one from Chikaming Township for $3.3 million for the Cherry Beach Park Addition and ones from New Buffalo Township for the Marquette Greenway Development and Three Oaks Village for the Watkins Park Trail, were not recommended for funding.
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