Area elected officals meet to discuss Heartland Trail

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

July 22, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Area elected officials will meet Thursday in Walker to discuss the immediate future of the Heartland recreational trail.

The meeting was organized by state Rep. Larry Howes, R-Hackensack, so that area officials can discuss the proposed dual trails for the Heartland.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials, representatives of snowmobiling and bicycle groups, Bemidji Mayor Doug Peterson, Walker Mayor Brad Walhof, Howes and state Sen. Dave Ten Eyck, DFL-East Gull Lake, are scheduled to attend the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the county board room in the Cass County Courthouse in Walker.

Howes has said no decisions concerning the paving of the trail or the proposed alternate snowmobile trail will be made, according to a published story in the Walker Pilot-Independent. The meeting is being held so that everyone involved is updated to the trail's current situation.

"We just want to make sure everybody's on the same page," he said.

The history of the trail is divisive.

Plans to pave the Heartland north from Walker to Cass Lake were scheduled to take place this summer.

However, snowmobiling enthusiasts argued that if it was paved they would no longer be able to use the trail because snowmobiles equipped with studded tracks are not allowed on paved trails.

So a dual trail plan was devised so that the trail could still be paved, meaning a second trail for snowmobiles would run in ditches from Walker to Cass Lake. The snowmobiling enthusiasts also disagreed with this plan, and a second plan was devised to re-engineer the railroad grade to accommodate both trails. This has delayed the process of either trail being completed.

The 1999 state Legislature appropriated $500,000 for an alternate, non-paved trail that snowmobiles may use to be built alongside the paved portion of the Heartland Trail.

Of the 1999 appropriation, $350,000 was earmarked for a dual trail between Walker and Cass Lake; $125,000 was approved for a dual trail from Hackensack to Walker; and repairs to the Heartland Trail between Park Rapids and Walker were funded at $50,000.

A proposed Paul Bunyan snowmobile trail extension from Walker to Bemidji was not included in the package, but it may receive funding next year.