By: Mary Weber; Alcona County Review Staff Writer
One of the area's gems lies nestled between the northeast corner of Alcona County and the southeast corner of Alpena County. It is a quiet place where the wind whispers off the sugar sand shores through thousands of jack pine and aspen.
It is a place where nature flourishes and the darkness of the night sky feels all encompassing with too many stars for one to take in. This oasis is Negwegon.
Negwegon State Park has 39,600 feet of shoreline, 10 miles of hiking trails and 3,069 acres of natural habitat. It also has another feature -- friends. The Friends of Negwegon members work together to preserve, protect and promote the park through stewardship, education and research.
The Friends group first began when a number of individuals including Sue Keller, Jim Larson and Dan Mullen got together in 2008. They knew and understood how much the park had to offer and wanted to make sure it remained a place rich with history and nature for generations to come.
Keller is the president of the Friends group. She explained it took a while for them to get a tax-exempt 501c3 nonprofit charity status, but it was worth the wait as they couldn't apply for grants without it.
As a retired teacher from Alcona Community Schools, Keller knows the valuable education Negwegon presents to students. She is proud of the efforts of Alcona students who. with a combination of entities and grants along with the help of many teachers, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, researched, designed and executed interpretive signs for the park. This project was conducted over a three year span and was completed in 2010...
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