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Deep Portage gets go-ahead CASS COUNTY BOARD Cass County Correspondent BACKUS - Deep Portage Conservation Reserve Director Dale Yerger obtained county board approval Tuesday to proceed with a plan to install a security system and improved, more efficient heating and cooling system at the center east of Hackensack.
Deep Portage Foundation will fund the $76,000 project, which like the rest of the buildings and land at Deep Portage, will become county property when completed.
The security system will be installed in 27 dormitory rooms at Deep Portage to ensure that students do not leave their rooms and that no unauthorized persons enter student rooms. The heating and cooling system will maintain constant temperature levels to keep the security system operational, Yerger explained.
Some windows and doors will be replaced as a part of the project, he added.
Yerger also gave the reserve's annual operations report to the board, noting the operations have had a positive cash balance each of the last 10 years. Deep Portage Foundation has started a $167,000 endowment fund, he said. Interest and dividends earned on that fund will help pay camper scholarships and special operations needs, he explained.
More than 7,000 children attended one day to one-week programs at Deep Portage in 2007, with the dormitory occupied about 320 days of the year. Most student groups participate in a three-day and two-night stay at the reserve, he said.
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