Emergency Helicopter Landing Area

You may have noticed some tree removal and land clearing going on just North of the intersection of State 87 and State 84.  The location (just West of the Long Pine) is being developed as a landing site for the North Memorial Medical Helicopter.  In the past the helicopter could not land in the area until the sheriff blocked off the two highways for an emergency landing on the highway in front of the Long Pine.  The North helicopter is now able to land in the opening in the forest that has been created.

How the land became available to the township:

Mark and Deb Standly had witnessed the use of the road in front of their house as the landing site for the North helicopter and thought there should be a better place to land the helicopter that did not involve closing the road.  Since they owned land in area they offered approximately 2.5 acres of land to the township to build the landing area and some land that could be used by the township for future uses.  This generous offer was accepted by the township board and the ownership was transferred late in 2016.  The board is very grateful to these township residents for their gift.

The landing area:

The township board has worked with our contractor to remove trees and level the landing area which was completed in early Summer 2017.  The area is seeded and snow plowed in the Winter and is available now for landings.  The board worked with the North Memorial chief pilot to follow his recommendations for the area as far as access and surface.  He preferred grass rather than blacktop because of dust and debris that may be on the surface of blacktop.