IPF provides a strong footing for student rowing club

In the wee hours of Oct. 11, as the MSU Men’s Crew Club rowing team practiced in the Grand River under the watchful eye of the triple smokestacks of the downtown power station, IPF Landscape Services crew members busily prepared to install new gravel walkways from the club’s boathouse to the dock.

The club, founded in 1956, is not funded by the university, and is reliant on fundraising and donations for its equipment and facilities.

Retired MSU architecture professor Jim Perkins lives across the Grand River from the club’s boathouse and was used to seeing team members practicing, but knew little else about the club.

“A neighborhood meeting more than a decade ago brought the club to my attention,” Perkins said. “I also learned that the men’s team was not sanctioned by the university and so received little support so I stepped forward to volunteer.”

Perkins saw firsthand the difficulty crew members were having transporting the 65-foot crafts uphill from the dock to the boathouse, especially during wet seasons. He approached IPF via Planning, Design and Construction landscape architect Dave Wilber, to see if there was anything we could do to help.

Wilber described the site’s shortcomings to Landscape Services manager, Matt Bailey, who was more than happy to lend his support.

“The boathouse location had some chronic issues with washout and needed some landscaping to make the area safer for crew members,” Bailey said. “We donated 45 tons of gravel, recycled from campus concrete, to create safe, well-draining walking paths for the students.”

He added, “I’d like to form a lasting partnership with the team, encouraging student team members to interact with IPF staff and know that we are here to help.”

Bailey and Wilber are working collaboratively to provide the club with additional surplus landscaping materials including extra gravel for a driveway, saplings and plantings to be installed next spring.

“If we do things slowly here, with IPF looking out for us, we could really improve the teams’ experience, and instill a stronger connection to the university,” Perkins added.