The Work of Stewardship

Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition Clean-Up

The Keweenaw is experienced in countless ways. Some explore it by mountain bike, snowmobile, ATV, or hiking trail, while others find connection along its shorelines, nature preserves, and quiet backroads. Though every season and every activity brings a different community outdoors, they all share the same landscape. That's the idea behind the Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition (KORC), which unites recreation clubs, nonprofits, agencies, businesses, and volunteers around a common purpose: caring for the places that make these experiences possible. Each spring, that purpose comes to life as neighbors, families, and visitors work side by side to remove litter, clean beaches, and reclaim forgotten dump sites, helping keep the Keweenaw clean, safe, and welcoming for everyone. It's a reminder that stewardship is part of recreation, and that every act of stewardship is an investment in the future of the Keweenaw and an invitation for the next person to experience it the same way we do.

What is KORC?

The Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition (KORC) brings together individuals, businesses, and outdoor recreation, conservation, and community organizations focused on the long-term care and protection of public access across the Keweenaw Peninsula. Its members reflect the full range of people who live in and experience this place—from trail users and outdoor enthusiasts to resource professionals, hospitality workers, students, and retirees—each connected by a shared stake in the landscapes that define the region.

That shared stake is rooted in a simple reality: the Keweenaw’s forests, trails, shorelines, and recreation infrastructure are not only central to outdoor experiences here, but to the broader way of life that exists around them. When those landscapes are degraded, fragmented, or become inaccessible, the impact is felt across the entire community.

KORC provides a space for those perspectives to come together, helping align conversation and coordination around stewardship, access, and responsible recreation across user groups that don’t always overlap, but often depend on the same places.

Through a Steering Committee made up of representatives from local clubs, municipalities, conservation groups, researchers, and recreation organizations, KORC continues to bring together voices from across the region.

KORC Partners include:

• Keweenaw ATV Club
• Copper Harbor Trails Club
• Keweenaw Snowmobile Club
• Calumet-Keweenaw Sportsmen's Club
• ... and more!

How to Recreate Responsibly

Responsible recreation in the Keweenaw is shaped by the reality that these landscapes are actively used—and actively cared for. Through seasonal efforts and ongoing stewardship, KORC and its partners remove a wide range of materials from public lands. Some of it is everyday recreational litter left behind on trails, roadsides, and shoreline access points—food waste, packaging, broken gear, tires, and other discarded items that accumulate with use. Other materials are “legacy” remnants from earlier eras, including old homesteads, camp sites, and informal dumps from a time before modern waste management, when disposal often happened directly on the land.

Each year, that work adds up.

• 2026: ~4,300 lbs removed
• 2025: ~5,840 lbs removed
• 2024: ~3,600 lbs removed

But stewardship here goes beyond litter pickup. A portion of this work also involves clearing downed trees and supporting basic infrastructure repairs like culvert maintenance—efforts that help keep routes safe, passable, and connected across seasons and user groups.

For those recreating in the Keweenaw, responsible use is less about rules and more about awareness of impact:

• Pack out all trash, including food waste, wrappers, and broken or unnecessary gear
• Secure loads on ATVs, sleds, and trailers to prevent trail debris
• Avoid creating new routes or widening existing trails, especially in wet or sensitive conditions
• Respect trail conditions and closures, and report downed trees or damaged infrastructure when encountered
• Yield and share space appropriately across user groups to maintain a safe, multi-use system

Across every season, from snowmobile to ATV to hiking and biking, the goal is the same: keep these landscapes functional, accessible, and shared.