Volunteers to Install 250 Feet of Boardwalk at Cranberry Lake Park

's 213 acres are home to wildlife, a and a network of trails used by hikers, skiers, horseback riders and bikers year-round.

But navigating the park's trails in the spring or after a few days of rain can prove difficult, as visitors may come across sections of the trail that are muddy, partly underwater and sometimes impassable.

"Over the years, we’ve tried to put wood chips down, and we've tried all these temporary fixes," Oakland Township Parks and Trails Planner Mindy Milos-Dale said, but nothing seemed to permanently solve the problem.

"Finally, we had a brave Eagle Scout who said he would ."

A big project

Instead of trying to modify the trail itself, Milos-Dale said Eagle Scout candidate Steffen Mammen, of Oakland Township, and his fellow boy scouts will be building two dozen 8- and 10-foot sections of wooden boardwalk, each about four feet wide, to bypass the parts of the trail most prone to flooding.

"People have asked for this over the years," Milos-Dale said. She added that she sees a lot of bikers and pedestrians using the park's trails to travel between Predmore and Romeo roads, and many use the park as a shortcut to Addison Oaks County Park.

"This is a large Eagle Scout project," she said. "This'll probably be the largest one we will have ever done."

The project began when Mammen, the son of Oakland Township Parks and Recreation Commissioner Dirk Mammen, came to the township asking what they needed done. Milos-Dale said they jumped at the chance to have Mammen, along with boy scouts from Rochester Troop 356, construct the 250 linear feet of boardwalk needed to fix the trails.

"It saved us a lot of money," Milos-Dale said. She estimates a contractor would have cost the township approximately $30,000. Now, the township will only spend about $7,000 on the project, thanks to Mammen and the other volunteers.

"We just didn't have the dollars and manpower, so we picked the worst areas, and that's where we're going to be putting these sections.”

A little help from friends

Mammen, of course, couldn't complete such a large project alone. He and fellow boy scouts from Troop 356 struck a deal with in Rochester, who will be providing lumber for the volunteer project at a reduced fee.

"They're kind of a partner in all of this," Milos-Dale said. "Also, the has been very interested, and there’s a number of volunteers that are going to come as well as the scouts coming to volunteer."

Mammen and other boy scouts will assemble the two dozen individual boardwalk sections ahead of time, and volunteers will convene at the north entrance of the park on Oct. 29 to install the sections.

Do you want to help?

Even with help from Rochester Bike Shop volunteers, township employees and boy scouts, to complete the project on Oct. 29.

"We'd love to have a little more volunteer help," Milos-Dale said. "More help will make it go faster."

Volunteers who wish to participate are encouraged to call the Parks and Recreation Department at 248-651-4440 to pre-register for the event, as Mammen and his fellow boy scouts are organizing a free lunch for volunteers.

"We are asking people if they have tools that they want to bring, they’re more than welcome to," Milos-Dale added. "We just won't have enough to supply these for everybody."

The installation will begin around 10 a.m. and run until the project is complete. The rain date for the project is Oct. 30.

"Even if people can come for an hour, two hours – if people can come for a little bit, we appreciate it."