Tim Wegner
05-31-2003, 06:48 AM
I had a meeting on Friday 5-30-03 with representatives from the city of Bloomington and FWS. The topic of discussion was the Minnesota River Bottoms trail focused mainly on the bluff side of the trail.
Representing the FWS was Terry Shreiner, City of Bloomington was Randy Qualye. We discussed some "pilot project reroutes."
We discussed re-routes around some of the more seriously damaged areas and fixing areas that a re-route is not possible. The discussions were very positive and productive. Terry still has to consult with Rick Schultz but it appears that in the next week or two we should hear if the FWS, who is in charge of maintenance, will let us do the re-routes on the bluff side of the trail.
Mr. Shreiner during the discussion said, "I would like to see what you have done at Lebanon Hills." I took that as a very positive comment so---at 10 AM we were walking the trails at Lebanon. Pointed out the trailbuilding methods, showed him hand built vs. dingo built trails and discussed water management techniques that we have incorporated into the trail design.
About 10 minutes in to the walk through Terry said " these are simple concepts, how come we are not using these trail building ideas in all of our trails." I just smiled on the inside and said we can help you with trail design.
A walk through that was supposed to last 15-20 minutes lasted almost an hour. Terry wanted to see the older trails as well as the XX trail. WE were both amazed at how much the trail backslope and downslope have revegitated. The ferns have returned, columbines were blooming right on the edge of the trail and NO EVIDENCE OF EROSION.!!
That is it for now will keep you informed when we here back from FWS.:cool:
Representing the FWS was Terry Shreiner, City of Bloomington was Randy Qualye. We discussed some "pilot project reroutes."
We discussed re-routes around some of the more seriously damaged areas and fixing areas that a re-route is not possible. The discussions were very positive and productive. Terry still has to consult with Rick Schultz but it appears that in the next week or two we should hear if the FWS, who is in charge of maintenance, will let us do the re-routes on the bluff side of the trail.
Mr. Shreiner during the discussion said, "I would like to see what you have done at Lebanon Hills." I took that as a very positive comment so---at 10 AM we were walking the trails at Lebanon. Pointed out the trailbuilding methods, showed him hand built vs. dingo built trails and discussed water management techniques that we have incorporated into the trail design.
About 10 minutes in to the walk through Terry said " these are simple concepts, how come we are not using these trail building ideas in all of our trails." I just smiled on the inside and said we can help you with trail design.
A walk through that was supposed to last 15-20 minutes lasted almost an hour. Terry wanted to see the older trails as well as the XX trail. WE were both amazed at how much the trail backslope and downslope have revegitated. The ferns have returned, columbines were blooming right on the edge of the trail and NO EVIDENCE OF EROSION.!!
That is it for now will keep you informed when we here back from FWS.:cool: