GLADSTONE — Delta County Non-Motorized Trails (DCNTrails) is planning ski trail maintenance work before winter and officially open the new Little Bay de Noc Trail in Gladstone.

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Tuesday for the Little Bay de Noc Trail at the trailhead in VanCleve Park.

Rick Elrod, with the DCNTrails group said the trail has already had a major impact on the area.

“They’ve done a lot of work on the trail. The trail was finished up last fall and there has been some work done at the trailhead over the summer. The trail and trailhead are now officially complete and we just wanted to do an official ribbon cutting to celebrate that progress and showcase the trailhead that has some very nice features,” Elrod said.

It includes a bike maintenance station and a sign with a list of contributors who donated to the project.

The ribbon cutting will be held at 5 p.m. at the Gladstone trailhead near the parking lot for the Kids Kingdom playground.

The trail spurred the creation of DCNTrails. Following the ribbon cutting, the group will hold a public meeting at Freshwater Tavern.

“We would love to have the public come out and see what we’ve been up to and give us input on what things are important to you and just learn how you can get involved in the non-motorized trail system in Delta County,” said Elrod.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. The group was formed to address non-motorized trails in the county. They recently were granted its tax exempt status as a 501C3 non-profit organization.

DCNTrails is also planning two weekends of trail work to prepare cross country ski trails for winter.

Elrod said they will be working on loops 1 and 2 at the Days River Pathway tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“A lot of it is trimming back some of the shrubs and brush that encroaches on the trail on the sides and some of it is doing maintenance on the surface too. Erosion happens over the summer from people riding bikes but also from the rain going down the path and eroding certain sections of it,” said Elrod.

Volunteers are asked to bring rakes, shovels, hand saws or loppers. Next week, they will work at the Rapid River Ski Trail on U.S. 41. That session will run from 9 a.m. to noon.

Elrod said the goal is to get the trails in as good a shape as possible.