HWPI Volunteer Spotlight: Ann Arbor’s Larry Deck

Volunteer Spotlight courtesy of Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative 

We would like to introduce our April Volunteer of the Month, HWPI Board Member, Larry Deck.

Larry has been a leader in creating trails and greenways in Michigan. He led the creation of, and chaired, the organization that has evolved into the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance. He initiated and served as the Project Director of the Southeast Michigan Greenways Project, which developed a constituency and vision for an interconnected greenway system in southeast Michigan.

Before leading these statewide and regional efforts, he co-founded and chaired, in the 1980s, the Friends of the Lakelands Trail, a group that has promoted the rail-trail between Hamburg and Jackson, one of the first rail-trails in Michigan.

Larry has been on the board of the Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition since 2008, an organization founded in 2001, whose goal is to make Washtenaw County a national leader in bicycling and walking. He served on the Greenways Advisory Committee of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission from the time the Border-to-Border Trail concept was developed until the committee’s functions were absorbed by HWPI.

He serves on the Transportation Coordinating Council of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), the city of Ann Arbor’s Alternative Transportation Committee, and the informal Ann Arbor Climate Partnership Working Group. He also served on the Technical Committee of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS).

Larry has bicycled extensively for transportation and recreation in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan, the United States, and Europe. He has biked in all 83 Michigan counties, 22 states, and 11 countries, and through a series of several adjoining trips, has biked across the U.S. Larry and his wife take a multi-week bike trip most years, and they are anxious for the pandemic to lift so that they can resume their annual adventures.

Larry, who lives in Ann Arbor, runs the Dexter-Ann Arbor half marathon most years. Before embarking on consulting and volunteer activities regarding trails and greenways, he designed and wrote technical software.

We are excited to have you on board, Larry!

For more on the Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative, click HERE