Early Season Michigan Out-of-Doors Camp Projects

Does a Tree Make a Sound When No One is Around?

What I can tell you is even though we did not hear the trees fall at camp this winter, we sure did see them laid across our pathways and fields. As we drove into camp for our facility committee meeting at the beginning of April, the driveway was a real obstacle course to navigate.

Down branches and trees were all throughout our property at Cedar Lake. At first, the magnitude of the amount of work that would be needed to clean-up put us back in our timeline a bit. Even though some storm debris piles up each year from the winter, this year’s load was more to tackle than usual. We knew an extra day or two at the property was needed as well as some extra hands with big tools to get this job done. 

Fortunately enough, no buildings or power lines were damaged by the debris. The biggest concern was branches hanging from the trees that could fall at any moment. With the help of some of our great volunteers, the driveway was cleared, and logs moved just enough for us to get some more help into camp to clean up the piles of debris.

MUCC’s Vice President, Rob Miller, and a team of his guys from Rob Miller Electric were able to come out to the facility and completely cut down all hanging branches, move down trees, and saw up large logs. With chainsaws and charisma, these hard workers cleared our trails and cut up plenty of firewood to last the summer. Without them, we would not have been able to clear all the storm damage.

After Rob and his guys took care of the large debris, our long-time volunteers from the Chelsea Proving Grounds, the “Chrysler Team”, as we call them, came out and took care of necessary maintenance they volunteer to do each year. Those things include putting in our fishing dock, finishing the renovation of the directors cabin and replacing toilets in some of the bathrooms. They are seasoned pros at getting camp in shape after the winter.

During the time of tree removal this month, we were also able to expand our beachfront on Cedar Lake by more than 20 feet. The invasive brush was pulled out next to our previous beachfront. Volunteers Bill and Lisa Lowe were able to level off the expanded area and cultivate sand from the property to lay down and now make the swim beach wider. This will now allow for more kids in the water and more space to hold activities by the waterfront. 

We are gearing up for our annual Spring Clean-Up that is set for Friday, May 5th. Anyone is welcome to come out to our property that day and help us complete final necessary maintenance and clean-up to prepare the property for campers. We will be working from 9 AM until about 3 PM. If you are interested, sign up using this link: https://forms.gle/eJEbFjbfp8RiKnQL6 . There is still so much to get done before the summer, but we are definitely off to a great start.

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