Ocqueoc Outdoor Center springs into future plans
Presque Isle County Tourism Council gave it their best shot of ?send an invitation and they will come? ? and come they did. From all facets and corners of Presque Isle County, to the ?Ocqueoc Outdoor Center and Our Future? meeting conducted at the Ocqueoc Township Hall Wednesday evening. Invitations, handouts, and media advertising precipitated the meeting and the hall filled with more than 40 people invited to share their thoughts, ideas, and visions for the soon?to-be acquired Ocqueoc Outdoor Center.
The official sign over from the Department of Natural Resources and the State of Michigan is scheduled April 2, when a public use deed will be issued to Presque Isle County for ownership, with a reverter clause to provide for return of the property to the DNR if the property is not used for public use. There are a total of 56 surrounding acres around the upper part the lake that is under the jurisdiction of the State Forest Division that surrounds the Ocqueoc Outdoor Center camp area.
IT IS the hope of the Presque Isle Tourism Council this remaining acreage will be pursued by the county to eventually become one area known as the Ocqueoc Outdoor Center. The tourism council gave special credit for the acquisition to Harry Whiteley who used his personal contacts and influence to move the project forward, when the DNR had announced the entire facility was set for demolition some months back. Following a massive community effort to save the camp and request a transfer of ownership to the county, the Presque Isle Commission agreed to fund $27,500 as long as a deed of ownership was provided.
With spring already here and summer on the way, the tourism council has been busy working with MSU Extension and other entities to find creative ways to utilize and develop the camp for county use. Mark Schuler, PI Tourism Council president addressed the meeting, giving a brief history and insight on immediate goals and asked the audience for their input. Schuler said the immediate restoration would include bathrooms and a septic field, 10 beds and lounge furnishings at the staff building, tables and chairs, in the dining facilities, 24 bunk beds in two barracks buildings, water well and drain field improvements, a low-flow upgrade for shower heads, stools, and sinks. He was certain that with these first renovations the camp would be up and running by June for child-age use, but not for adult use as yet.
COUNTY AND Economic Development Agent Mary Ann Heidemann was present to address the remaining issues, including the surrounding acreage under the State Forest Division. ?Now, the transfer includes the camp area and the rest is state forest land to be managed by them,? Heidemann said. Of concern is that it may cost to use the area for nature hikes and other events. ?We?ve been assured it won?t happen ? but I haven?t seen it in writing,? Heidemann added.
Heidemann indicated the rest of the acreage would be pursued for transfer of ownership as well, following the first transfer of the 18-acre camp area April 2. ?Every step we?re taking now is with the future in mind, ?said Schuler. ?We?ll deal with the different needs as they arise.? Schuler said $39,000 had been budgeted for renovation materials along with the use of volunteers to bring the camp up to usable standards by June for children. Adult use of the facility at present is an impossibility because the update standards would cost too much for this first year.
MSU Extension director Dave Glenn asked the audience to break into four groups for brainstorming sessions to come up with what kind of camp use and direction they would like to see happen. ?Those uses would include an adult long-term usage,? Glenn said. ?Also consider how this might be marketed.? The groups came up with a variety of new ideas for the tourism council to consider.
SOME OF the ideas included, an adventure camp for at-risk kids, an action program for Presque?s Promise leadership training, a theater camp, a sport camp, a contact point for MUCC, a conference camp with multiple teaching aids, a nature center with mentoring, a science camp, and an art work shop (all media) camp. The ideas continued with a music camp, a women?s group camp, a furniture making (by kids) camp, a summer school educational camp, a super outdoor weekend camp gathering of many sports such as horse people, back packers, canoers and get togethers for pot-luck meals. A river school, a nature trail, Girls Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H and church camps also were mentioned, as well as creating an outdoor/indoor auditorium, military reunions, family reunions, providing a boat dock and landing, an RV short-stay facility with dump station. Creating a gift shop and museum to preserve the CCC and MUCC heritage was mentioned, as well as a boat building workshop, a horse camping area, a school camp and hospitality training area, a camp for handicapped kids such as cancer, the blind, the retarded or an obesity camp.
A MUSIC festival could be conducted and re-certification programs
Schuler added, ?This should be a place of solitude and security with people needing to discover other people.? The tourism council is looking for volunteers, supplies and professionals interested in helping to create a beautiful community asset.
Donations of supplies, volunteers or cash may be made to the PI Tourism Council/OOC Fund, P.O. Box 96, Rogers City, Michigan 49779. For further information, e-mail: pictinfo@freeway.net or Presqueislemi.com on the Internet, or call (989) 734-4722 or fax (989) 734-2577.