Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit
Managed by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
6,998 acres40.1 mi of trail
Twin TrailSection 6 Road SouthwestSouth Branch Road Southwest
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Boardman Township
Boardman Township has 50 miles of mapped trails, 1.4 for every square mile of land
93 acres are parks and preserves, 57 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit (40.1 mi), South Boardman Preserve (0.7 mi), Boardman Township Park (0.5 mi). 19% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
340 acres · of 36.1 sq mi of land
Trails
50 mi
1.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
93 ac
57 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
19%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
5
What kind of outdoors town is Boardman Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Boardman Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Boardman Township is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Boardman Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical MI town 5% · U.S. 4%C+Trails1.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (50 mi) · MI 0.3 · U.S. 0.4APark land57 acres of park per 1,000 residents (93 acres) · MI 33 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home19% of residents within a half mile of a park · MI 50% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 59%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit, with 40.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
South Boardman Preserve
Managed by Boardman Township
108 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Boardman Township Park
Park
91 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
340 conserved acres
1% of Boardman Township’s land. Who manages Boardman Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits324 ac
Town or city16 ac
Unknown Easement · 324 acLocal Park · 16 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 324 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boardman Township Park Local Park | Town or city | 16 | Open |
Things to do
1 places to go in Boardman Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Scenic views in Boardman Township
1 scenic view without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
5 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 39.8 mi
Twin Trail1.3 mi
Section 6 Road Southwest0.6 mi
South Branch Road Southwest0.5 mi
Old US-1310.4 mi
Bass Lake Road Southwest0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
2Baseball
2Pickleball
1Football
1Softball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Boardman Township: May to August
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 27 | 30 | 41 | 54 | 67 | 77 | 81 | 78 | 71 | 57 | 43 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 2.2 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 2.8 | 2.5 |
February is the driest month (1.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 4.1 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Boardman Township →
Next door
Boardman Township and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Kalkaska Township212 miUnion Township189 miBoardman Township50 miSpringfield Township36 miOrange Township22 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boardman Township | 1% | 1.4 | 57 | 19% | B |
| Orange Township | 5% | 0.6 | 2 | 2% | C |
| Union Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Springfield Township | 2% | 1.0 | 2 | 5% | C |
| Kalkaska Township | 1% | 3.0 | 24 | 53% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Boardman Township
Where can I hike in Boardman Township?
The longest trail networks: Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit, 40.1 miles; South Boardman Preserve, 0.7 miles; Boardman Township Park, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Boardman Township is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Michigan town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Boardman Township’s trails?
Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit and South Boardman Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Boardman Township?
37,509 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Boardman Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 93 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Boardman Township have?
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Boardman Township neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →