Northeast Michigan Council of Governments Northwest Michigan Council of Governments Top of Michigan Trails Council Land Information Access Association Eastern Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region

Working together to market “Up North”

A multi-regional trails collaboration in Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan’s Greatest Asset

Northern Michigan has hundreds of miles of trails which are some of the best trails in the US. These trails are relatively unknown in other parts of the country.

Trails in Northern Michigan

The Up North Trails Collaborative aims to promote all trails together under one program…

Ski Trails National Forest trails Shore to Shore Trail Non-Motorized Multi-Use Trails (all sources) Motorcycle Routes (DNR) ORV Trails & Routes (DNR) North Country Trail Snowmobile Trails & Routes (DNR)

Up North Trails Collaborative Power in Numbers!

Partners from across Northern Michigan have banded together to form a collaborative to improve Northern Michigan’s economy through trail marketing. Here is our growing list of who’s participated in the discussions….

Northeast Michigan Council of Governments Northwest Michigan Council of Governments Land Information Access Association Top of Michigan Trails Council Cheboygan County Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance Eastern Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Comm. North Country Trail Association TART Trails Indian River Chamber of Commerce Presque Isle County Development Commission Mackinaw Area Chamber of Commerce Village of Mackinaw City Corwith Township City of Grayling Briley Township Lake to Lake Charlevoix Trail Michigan Department of Transportation MSU Extension Michigan Department of Natural Resources Michigan State University Extension Travel Michigan US 23 Heritage Route Michigan Municipal League Michigan Trail Riders Association Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians Topinabee Development Association Emmet County Burt Lake Trail Committee Crawford County Trails Committee Rogue Industrial Services City of Alpena

The Number$

A trail can bring at least $1 million annually to a community, depending on how well the town embraces the trail… 

Tourism is one of Michigan’s top income producing industries…

In 1998, Snowmobilers alone spent $43 million and supported over 1,600 jobs in northern MI 1 In 2010, ORV users spent $82 million and supported over 800 jobs. 2 1 MSU Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Resources 2 MSU: Dr. Chuck Nelson

We Can Do Better

Lack of promotion means that Northern Michigan is not capturing the potential economic benefits generated from trail users. That is where the Up North Collaborative comes in…

Our Plans: Website First Develop a comprehensive asset database for use in a trails trip planning website which will…

…be a one stop portal for details about

all types

of trail systems. …contain interactive mapping components to allow users to design their own trips.

…market communities and businesses around the trails. …be unlike anything that Northern Michigan currently has to offer.

US 23 Heritage Route We know we can do it because we’ve already done it once…

NEMCOG and LIAA partnered to create www.heritage23.org. The US 23 website presents over 1,000 things to do and see along the Huron Sunrise Coast and allows users to plan their trip and create their own itineraries. US 23 wins national “Trailblazer Award”

The US 23 Heritage Route program was recently selected for an “Innovation Award” by the National Association of Development Organizations for advancing economic growth and sustainability for the nation’s regions. The US 23 program competed in Miami, FL, in October against projects from across the country and won the prestigious national “Trailblazer Award” .

US 23 Heritage Route

Visitors can Plan an Itinerary by selecting what they are interested in. Events in coastal communities are a popular website feature Assets are classified into four categories.

US 23 Heritage Route

Visitors can click on an interest area and see a map of those interests along the Huron coast.

www.heritage23.org

Each asset has its own mini-page with a description, photos, map, GPS coordinates, contact information, and associated activity icons. Visitors can use the “Add to My Itinerary” Button to create their own itinerary and map.

Up North Trails Website The structure is already in place…

The Up North Trails website will model its structure after the US 23 website and will simply build on the US 23 database.

OTHER WEBSITES www.atatrail.org

www.copperharbortrails.org/trails www.trailsheaven.com

Each of these contain components of what we want to do, but none contain all of our ideas…

Up North Trails Website

Information we want to provide to trail users….

• • • •

Trailhead: defined point Name Number of parking spaces ADA accessible spaces long vehicle spaces Trail Route: defined trail segments

•

Name

•

Trail Number (if any)

•

Trail Type (paved shared use, unpaved share use, hiking, on-road bike, mountain bike, back country, paddleway, sidewalk tour, ski, ATV/ORV, motorcycle, snowmobile, equine)

•

Surface Type (natural, crushed gravel, paved, wood, bridge, other)

•

Trail Uses

•

Length (meters & miles)

•

Elevation (and change in elevation)

•

Net slope

•

Difficulty

•

ADA accessibility

•

Pet Access

•

Associated Park

•

Trail Manager

•

Status/Condition of Trail Points of Interest

•

Bike rack

•

Boat ramp

•

Benche

•

Cabin/yurt

•

Campground

•

Covered shelter

•

Equine facilities

•

Fishing area

•

Grills

•

Memorial/monument

•

Mine/quarry

•

Picnic area

•

Public transit

•

Ranger Station

•

Rentals

•

Restrooms

•

Water

•

Interpretive Sign

•

Map

•

Scenic area

•

River crossing

•

Natural features

•

Caution area

•

Sensitive area Points of Interest Bike shops Restaurants Lodging Health care Shopping Museums Historic sites And the list goes on…

Up North Trails Website

Interactive and Dynamic….

 Trails will be downloadable into a GPS unit  Pre-made maps  “Helmet Camera Videos”  Design Your Own Map Feature using Interactive Mapping!

 Mobile Devices….locate nearby assets

Social Media….users can upload favorite rides and tell their trail story.

Open Data Policy….local businesses can use data to provide information to their customers.

Branding Up North Trails Tying us all together…

The collaborative wishes to develop a unifying and recognizable brand and logo to apply to all of northern Michigan from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. This brand should complement the Pure Michigan campaign.

Promotional and Marketing Materials Tourism materials will fill a wide variety of trail user needs…

Large format maps Guidebooks Brochures Travel magazine ads Online ads Smartphone apps Pure Michigan ad Coordinated and recognizable trail signage Social media We will plan a widespread media campaign to make Northern Michigan a nationally known trails destination…

What’s Next?

INVOLVEMENT

: Collaborative spans 4 regions.

Scale of our project has the attention of many groups.

The right people are now sitting around the table and moving forward. We are currently working to get more groups & communities to jump on board!

DATA

: What’s Been Done?

Trail Data: NEMCOG & NWMCOG have collected GIS data on trails in northern Michigan

(Funding: MDOT Nonmotorized Trails).

NEMCOG is editing trail data along the Lake Huron coastal counties to present it in a format that is valuable to trail users

(Funding: Coastal Zone Management).

Asset Data: NEMCOG has collected over 1,000 asset points for the Lake Huron coastal counties

(Funding: MDOT Heritage Route Program)

The Up North Trails initiative plans to use the US 23 model to structure its asset data collection for the rest of northern Michigan

Implementation Using the Heritage Route Model to Build Website

1. Regional Planning Agencies provide staff support and coordination.

Experience in managing region-wide data sets Local knowledge and credibility Proven success record in implementing asset management projects

2. A team is formed in each county.

Team consists of local volunteers, tourism agencies, trail groups, etc. Regional planning agencies provide the staff support to form and coordinate the team.

3. Trail data is compiled and seamlessly integrated.

Trail data is nearly complete at the regional level.

4. Desired attributes are added to the trail data.

Attributes include trail type, segment length, etc.

GIS professionals at the regional planning agencies complete this task.

5. Teams work to collect points of interest

Public or private points of interest.

Regional staff assist with this effort.

6. All data is uploaded to website

Regional staff assists with this effort and provides quality control.

Sustainability How do we sustain such a project?

The regional planning agencies are suited for maintaining the website and, in collaboration with local partners, moving marketing forward. Regions are large enough to provide a real “destination” to travelers, but small enough to manage large amounts of data successfully.

Regions are successful in working with community partners.

Data Centralization… Fulfilling another need…

Not only will this website fill a tourism need in northern Michigan, it will also become a

centralized database

where all northern Michigan trail and asset data can be kept.

What does this mean?

As other websites come on-line in other regions of the State , that website can pull data from this same database . The structure does not have to be re-created each time. This eliminates duplication of effort . As the database is updated, all websites that pull from that database are simultaneously updated, so no one is out of date. The process of promoting northern Michigan becomes STREAMLINED !

Program Structure Statewide application…

Asset Data Management

Staff from each region works with State & local agencies and “teams” to collect trail and asset information to input to centralized database. Centralized database of assets for entire State of Michigan

(ex: housed at LIAA where structure is already in place) Regional staff keeps database updated…

Tourism websites pull asset information from centralized database. Ex: State could have website which shows “tourism regions”. Users click to access that region’s tourism website. Each region’s website would have a consistent look – variations on a theme. All pull from the SAME database.

Providing Info to the Public

Program Structure

Fits into current economic climate in Michigan….

 Innovative One-Stop Data Portal.

 Eliminates the Silos of Economic Development, Recreation/Trails, and Tourism.

 Works through Unique Partnerships (public and private).

 Leverages and Promotes Existing Public and Private Assets Together.

 Open Data Policy.

 Social Media and Mobile Devices = Dynamic and Real-Time Experience.

 Best Practices from Award-Winning Heritage Route Program can be Shared Throughout the State.

 Fast Return on Investment…local businesses will reap the benefits of nationwide exposure to trail users.

$$$$$$$$$$$$ So, where’s the money?

We believe this project has a high potential for significant grant funding. The initial website development will cost between $10-15,000 and we have collected that amount through donations and contributions from partners. Estimate to complete data collection and integration for the 22 county “Up North” region: $200,000 - $250,000

$$$$$$$$$$$$ Donations are beginning to come in…

We have received the following: Cheboygan County: $750 Emmet County: $500 Top of Michigan Trails Council: $200 Topinabee Development Association: $750 Rogue Industrial Services: $100 Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan: $3,000 Partnerships for Change: $6,500 ( NEMCOG has contributed over $4,000 in staff time to the project )

Economic Development Strategy

Working toward a Trail Town Economic Development Strategy.

We have a goal to assist local leaders to utilize their trail systems to develop and support new opportunities for economic development.

The Larger Picture

Comprehensive - Four Phase Initiative Phase I. • Comprehensive asset database application • Comprehensive website Phase II. Aggregation and synthesis of community asset data Phase III. • Develop marketing & promotional materials • Explore opportunities for long-term management, maintenance, and funding of website Phase IV. • Develop a

Trail Town

community economic development strategy • Tie in economic development strategy with website

Get Involved!

If you would like to get involved or donate, please contact: Denise Cline NEMCOG [email protected]

231-421-5384