By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

Early in October, the Paint Creek Trail Commission was in the process of interviewing candidates for the role of Paint Creek Trail Manager.

After interviewing several people the commission unanimously decided on Melissa Ford for the job.

Ford, a current Lake Orion resident, has a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Anthropology from Albion College and a Master’s Degree in Public History.

For the past 11 years she had been working as the archivist at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University where she managed the museums archives as well as worked on exhibitions. She also did grant writing and administered grants that went with her department, as well as conducted tours.

Her current goals, after just recently stepping into the role as trail manager, are to keep the trail well maintained, increase the programming opportunities, increase community outreach, get more volunteers and add some outdoor education to the trail.

Currently, the commission has two major projects they are working on: resurfacing the entire 8.9 mile trail and replacing a bridge, which will take about eight weeks.

Along with these projects, the commission will also have to create a new “master plan” that will take them through the next few years. This plan will involve a lot of community outreach, including public forums to get ideas from trail users on what they would like to see added or fixed on the trail.

Ford said she is very excited to get started in this role, meet trail users and to help the trail continue to be a wonderful community asset. Online: www.paintcreektrail.org.