Four of us gathered in the sweltering heat at the shaded picnic table alongside the Day Use Trail at Ottawa Sands County Park in July. The meeting was prompted by comments from a book club discussion of Mother’s and my book, Miracle Within Small Things, earlier this year.
“Have you actually walked the trail, Mary?” asked a woman in the book club when I mentioned benches were added to the trail after an employee of the Ottawa County Parks and Recreation Commission heard me speak about the importance of making nature more accessible to seniors.
I confessed I had not.
“There’s no shade at Ottawa Sands,” another woman declared. “It’s hot!”
I shared the comments with John Scholtz, Board Vice President of the Ottawa County Parks Foundation, Katie Wright, Coordinator of Fund Development, and JB McCombs, co-leader of the Bench and a Tree initiative as we sat at the table overlooking the park.
“I walked the path yesterday afternoon,” John admitted, reflecting on the heat. “It was an aha moment.”
The vision of the Ottawa County Parks Foundation is to weave the joy of nature into everyone’s lives. Seniors, included. That’s why every bench along the eight-foot-wide paved path at Ottawa Sands has arm rests and back support. It is why every bench is placed on an elongated cement platform that provides “companion seating” so those in wheelchairs can sit comfortably alongside friends and loved ones. That’s why there are now 26 benches along the two-mile loop trail to provide more rest stops for seniors walking the trail.
But when establishing the funding criteria for a senior-friendly park, they did not prioritize shade. They do now.
Of the 26 benches alongside the two-mile Day Use Trail, only five are shaded. One shaded bench is adjacent to the restroom and parking lot, two nearby. The other two are on the far side of the lake. There are enough trees on that far side to place more benches. But it would still be a hot, 3/4-mile walk from the parking lot in either direction to reach the shade. Do we add benches to the far side or trees to the benches closer to the parking lot?
“Or do we focus our efforts on shading the shorter, one-half mile paved loop at the new Rosy Mound Natural Area Expansion?” Katie asked.
Adjacent to the Rosy Mound Natural Area south of Grand Haven, the Expansion is scheduled to open in 2027. While 93% of the land will be preserved or restored to its natural habitat, the park commission is creating an 8-foot-wide, half-mile paved trail loop with twelve benches that, like Ottawa Sands, will have arm rests, back supports and be placed on elongated cement platforms. At the west end of the loop, another paved path will lead to a dune overlook of Lake Michigan. While the incline may be difficult for seniors, two of the twelve benches have been added to provide rest stops along that path. Two benches will be placed atop the dune.
Adding shade to either park will not be easy. Both properties were once sand mines, which means the majority of trees were cleared to facilitate mining. Planting, watering and maintaining trees large enough to provide shade in sand is a challenge.
On Friday, JB and I decided to prioritize the Rosy Mound Expansion, using Bench and a Tree funds to help Ottawa County Parks provide the trees and senior-friendly benches necessary to make the shorter loop trail easily accessible to seniors . . . to everyone. With the fund-raising efforts of the the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Trees Initiative, we hope to add trees to the benches at Ottawa Sands, too.
It feels right to start the Bench and a Tree initiative in Ottawa County. Not only are the park officials excited to work with us, the county was the one in which my mother lived the last eleven years of her 98-year life. We plan to identify and work with other interested parks throughout Michigan in 2027. Stay tuned for updates including how you can get involved.
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