— Yellow Medicine and Renville counties and the city of Granite Falls will each receive approximately $1.35 million to invest in recreational opportunities as part of the legislation providing replacement funding for the transfer of the former
to the Upper Sioux Community.
The
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
has met separately with the local government units about setting up joint powers agreements between the agency and each entity for the expenditure of the funds.
At their meeting on Feb. 25, members of the
indicated they were likely to approve the arrangement, although they expressed some concerns. They feel the funds do not adequately represent the replacement value of losing a 1,300-acre, operating state park. They expressed concerns that if they decline the funds, they would be allocated elsewhere.
The 2023 legislation to return the park to the
set aside $5 million to be used toward replacing the recreational and economic values the park represented in the
Valley.
The partnerships are intended to allow the governmental entities to make improvements and investments in recreational opportunities that are consistent with the desires expressed at DNR-hosted public input meetings in August and November of 2023, and also collected from a website the department maintains, according to Laura Preus, statewide programs and planning manager with the DNR, and Jeremy Losinski, southern regional parks and trails manager with the DNR.
A key message from the public input process has been the desire to keep the available funds in the region, the DNR representatives said. The process also made it clear how important outdoor recreation and natural resources conservation is in the region, they added.
Setting up joint powers agreements allows the process to move forward, and provides more flexibility than a system based on awarding grants, they pointed out.
Contributed
Those participating in the public input process indicated a strong preference for opportunities in the Minnesota River Valley both upstream and downstream of the former state park. They cited a wide range of interests, from seeing expanded camping opportunities and trail development to more access to the Minnesota River, equestrian riding and hiking opportunities.
will be focusing its investments on improving its War Memorial Park, which was often cited during the input process, Preus and Losinski said.
will focus on improvements to its Skalbekken County Park, which offers equestrian opportunities.
will focus on its Timm Park on Wood Lake.
Setting up the joint powers agreements and moving the process forward helps meet the short-term goal of investing the funds and improving opportunities, according to Preus and Losinski.
“People want to see progress on the ground,” said Preus.
Funds could also be used toward planning for longer-range goals. The input meetings showed interest by many for longer-term planning opportunities to leverage or obtain other funding for a range of recreational improvements in the region, they explained.
A portion of the replacement funds, possibly in the range of $800,000, will be used by the DNR for its legal and associated costs in the transfer process. The DNR will use its own internal funds for commitments to remove park buildings and infrastructure from the former park land, they told the West Central Tribune. Bids were recently sought for infrastructure removal.
Awarding the funds to the three governmental entities also recognizes that the available funds are not sufficient for some of the big-ticket items raised in the public input process.
Interest was expressed in seeing a new state park, as well as development of a bicycle trail connecting Granite Falls to Wegdahl, where a trail now connects to Montevideo. Preus said the challenges of landowner patterns and getting sufficient landowner interest for a large area of land were raised during the input process.
Macy Moore / West Central Tribune
Chippewa County has not been included in the allocation of funding. The Chippewa County Board of Commissioners expressed disappointment during discussions at its meeting March 4.
Preus and Losinski said the DNR has worked in partnership with Chippewa County on projects in the river valley, and remains committed to doing so. The valley is a unique and long corridor, and the focus continues to the recreational opportunities it offers, they added.
The DNR has also worked with the National Park Service to remove encumbrances that existed on the lands that comprised the park. A large portion of the lands that comprised the state were acquired using Federal Land and Water Conservation Funds. Encumbrances were placed on those lands as a result.
With the encumbrances removed from the former park lands, the DNR is now in the process of placing them on newly acquired lands. The DNR is obligated to redesignate the encumbrance to newly acquired public lands which must have an equal or greater appraised value and offer public outdoor recreation opportunities. An appraisal was completed on the former park lands that were encumbered due to the federal funding.
