Kent County, volunteers and trail builders push to add 6–8 miles of trails at Johnson Park

Johnson Park in Walker is slated to become a regional mountain-bike and multiuse-trail hub, county officials and trail partners said on the Made in Walker podcast. The project currently has nearly 4 miles roughed in, an initial 6-mile build quoted at about $500,000, and a fundraising push to extend the system to 8 miles.

"Johnson Park will be our first system where you'll be able to bike out of the core urban area, get to the park, ride it, experience it, ride back home all without ever having to set foot in a car," said Dan Frayer, identified in the episode as president of the West Michigan Mountain Bike Association.

The trail plan is being developed alongside the Grand River Greenway, a multi-jurisdictional trail initiative that partners said will span communities from Grand Haven to Lowell and beyond. Project partners include the West Michigan Mountain Bike Association and Spectrum Trail Design; the International Mountain Bike Association contributed the concept plan, speakers said.

Designs will include an inner "green" loop with gentler grades and wider tread for adaptive riders, families and beginners, and adjacent progressive features for more experienced riders. The partners said the mixed design aims to serve local users and to draw visitors from farther away — speakers cited national case studies where day-trip visitors spent between $400 and $1,200 per visit in trail destinations.

Construction and fundraising details: speakers said professional trail construction is a significant cost (described in the episode as starting at about $12 per linear foot), and that the original 6-mile price estimate was about $500,000. Trail organizers are running an active fundraising campaign, working with the Kent County Parks Foundation, to raise roughly $100,000 to extend the build from 6 to 8 miles; as of the morning of the recording the campaign was reported to be about one-quarter funded.

Volunteers are already being used for some site work and will be invited to organized trail maintenance and finish-work days. "We already have just shy of 4 miles of trail roughed in," a trail-builder said, and volunteers and small crews are supporting clearing and finishing tasks.

Amenities and timeline: Ben Swayze, identified in the episode as director of Kent County Parks, said the county has secured a $400,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources to help pay for a four-season restroom, a replacement playground and gathering-space improvements near the trailhead. He said the Kent County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to accept the grant at an upcoming meeting. Organizers said they are targeting a finish date of summer 2026 for the trailwork, with a modest cushion built into that schedule.

How to follow and give: organizers directed listeners to WMMBA.org (see the trails menu) for project updates, volunteer opportunities and links to the fundraising campaign; broader county park updates are posted at kentcountyparks.gov and on the county's social channels.

The podcast episode did not present a formal vote or ordinance; the $400,000 DNR grant was described as a grant that the county board will consider for acceptance. The speakers provided cost estimates and fundraising progress but did not provide detailed line-item budgets or final construction contracts.