County considers whether to continue grooming cross-country ski trails

The Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners revisited the topic of whether to continue grooming cross-country ski trails.

Commissioner Doug Houge brought up at the Tuesday, Aug. 11, meeting the Larson Lake and the Wolf Lake cross-country ski trails.

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the ski clubs and speak with several people that utilize those trails, and I thought that it at least earned enough attention to bring it back to the board for a revisit and discussion amongst the members,” Houge said.

County staff had groomed the trails as part of the county’s recreational trail system. Because of aging equipment, the county budget committee’s consensus, however, was not to advance the capital equipment request for new equipment and to instead discontinue grooming those trails.

“If we look at our recreational plan … part of our mission is to not just summer trails but winter trails as well — cross-country skiing is spelled out specifically in that — and I wanted to also make note that we do several similar fundings for recreational activities like this,” Houge said.

The Larson Lake Trail south of Deerwood is 7.2 miles long and features rolling hills and a mix of oak forests, and red and white pines. The Wolf Lake Trail east of Brainerd is 5.6 miles long and features varying terrain, from level to hilly, and a mix of hardwoods and mature pines.

“I’ve skied since I was 12. I’m a mom of four skiers and I coach the (Brainerd) middle school ski team. And I’m also a part of the ski board. And I just want to express to you how important I believe skiing is to our community,” Tiffanie Knapp told the board via Microsoft Teams. “I think it’s vital to the well-being of the citizens of Crow Wing County.”

Cross-country ski enthusiasts in the county learned in January the county would stop grooming the Larson and the Wolf Lake cross-country ski trails.

“So many people move to this area because we enjoy recreating and being outside, and skiing is one of the ways that we can be outside in the winter,” Knapp told the commissioners.

After announcing the discontinuation of grooming those trails, county officials said they heard from area cross-country skiing clubs that would like to have those trails still groomed.

“I did a little bit of research and the University of Minnesota said that 10% of Minnesotans suffer from seasonal affective disorder or winter blues. The treatments that they listed are natural daylight and 30 minutes of being outside every day,” Knapp said. “Skiing is going to meet that.”

Knapp said she advocates skiing as a winter pastime that combats childhood obesity.

“On the middle school and high school teams, we have 120 to 130 skiers. We provide these kids with equipment for their first year. The only thing they need to buy is boots, and we teach them how to ski. And we have created a program that has allowed kids to try this and then to become lifelong skiers,” Knapp said.

County staff worked with the cross-country skiing clubs on a plan in which the county would donate any of its used equipment to the school district’s cross-country ski teams to groom the trails and pass along the grant-in-aid funds the county received from the state.

“I’ve bumped into people from across the state that come up here to ski when we have snow and they don’t, so it brings money into our county,” Knapp said.

The area clubs looked at the county’s used equipment and decided it would not be usable by them, according to county officials, who said the county had received grant-in-aid funds from the state of about $4,000 annually to help offset the cost of grooming the trails.

“The county has supported these trails for 40 years, and we’re just asking that you would help us to continue to keep these trails a viable part of the opportunities that we have here in Crow Wing County,” Knapp told the board.

The Wolf Lake Trail east of Brainerd and the Larson Lake Trail near Deerwood are groomed cross-country ski trails. They are also used for many non-motorized trail activities, especially horseback riding in the fall due to the large parking area accommodating horse trailers.

“There’s something about exercising with the sun on your face in the winter, surrounded by the beauty that the ski trails offer, that is just soothing to the soul. And I think that’s why so many cross-country skiers are so passionate about skiing,” Knapp explained.

County land services officials brought a request a few months ago to the county budget committee to replace the county’s equipment as it became older and less reliable with a four-wheel drive off-road vehicle, and pull-behind groomer, but the committee instead sought to discontinue the trail grooming.

“We would look at more of a utility vehicle that we can use not only in the winter, but we can use it year-round for the sale of timber, showing loggers potential sites,” Land Services Director Gary Griffin told the board.

Board Chairman Steve Barrows said, “I think this deserves further discussion, and I think we’re getting into the weeds here today, and I think that we should have this take place at a future meeting … with respect to our budget for 2021.”

Barrows told the board he would like more time to hear from residents for and against Griffin’s proposal to use nonspecific cross-country ski trail grooming equipment like the four-wheeler and pull-behind groomer.

“I'd like to see the people for and against this to be able to have an opportunity to send us — I know we’ve heard from a lot of them in our emails — but I would like a formal way of collecting that data,” Barrows said.

Commissioner Rosemary Franzen made a motion to table the topic until Griffin reports back to the board about the costs and impact to the county. Commissioner Paul Koering seconded the motion, and the motion was passed.

In other business, the county board:

Approved the promotion of Janessa Weaver to child support officer and Peggy O’Bryan to support enforcement aide in the community services department.

Approved the hiring of Cali Bohne, community services senior technical/administrative specialist; Lindsay Halling, community services social worker; Randy Aldous, land services customer service specialist; Gina Roach, land services customer service specialist; and Ashley Long, sheriff’s office corrections officer.

Accepted the departure of Kris Karr, highway maintenance specialist, and Jake Cleys, land services environmental specialist in training.

Authorized entering into a revised joint powers agreement between the counties of Benton, Cass, Crow Wing, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Stearns, Todd, Wadena and Wright for the Central Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Region Board.

Adopted a resolution to acquire the right of way to construct a new bridge over the Nokasippi River on County Highway 23.

Adopted final payment to Envirotech Services Inc. in the amount of $241,815.42 for dust control maintenance on county and First Assessment District gravel roads.

Authorized entering into a grant agreement between the state of Minnesota, acting through its commissioner of natural resources in the enforcement division, and the sheriff’s office for boat and water safety grant funding in the amount of $74,802.

Authorized staff to request public comment on a proposal to lease 84 acres of tax-forfeited land located in the city of Trommald and Irondale Township to the Cuyuna Conservation Club to be used for a public shooting range.

FRANK LEE may be reached at 218-855-5863 or at frank.lee@brainerddispatch.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchFL .