A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Trash wood left behind by loggers in the Fond du Lac State Forest blocked the Rogers Lake Ski trail and ultimately had to be cleaned up by volunteers, not the logging company that left it behind.
This past fall, cross-country skiers performing trail maintenance in Carlton County's Fond du Lac State Forest came upon a mess. Loggers earlier in the year had obliterated our sturdy ski trail marker. A tenth of a mile of trash wood smothered our trail.
We asked the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources forestry office in Cloquet to require the logging company to remove the trash wood. We were told the contract was closed. It took several of us on two daylong trips to restore a makeshift trail through that section. Our thanks to ATV members who helped us with this effort. But we still haven't recovered the sign post with its sturdy metal trail map and location marker. The forestry office has committed to holding loggers to trail protection going forward.
The Fond du Lac State Forest ski touring and hiking trail - 20 kilometers of trails and two small warming shelters - was created in 1978 by the DNR's Division of Forestry as part of the Minnesota Outdoor Recreation System. It includes the shelter on Rogers Lake, built with trees harvested from the nearby plantation and designed to serve both snowmobile and ski trail users. Later, a ravine shelter with a wood stove was added. For many years, skiing enthusiast Lonny Gervais maintained and groomed the ski trails, with funding from DNR Forestry and, later, Parks and Trails divisions.
The funding ended after Lonny moved out of the area in 2014. Since then, a loose but energetic group of cross-country ski volunteers - with some pitching in by ATV users - have worked to keep the ski trails cleared and signs current. Every year, in late fall and early spring, the state's Challenge Incarceration Program participants help remove fallen trees and brush from the trails.
Logging operations are intensifying in the Fond du Lac Forest due to maturing timber stands and the salvage from recent blowdowns.
In addition to skiers, snowshoers and hikers, Fond du Lac Forest trail users include the Cloquet-based ATV club and Cromwell-based Sno-Gophers club. The Sno-Gophers club maintains trails and works with Cromwell-Wright emergency services in educating and training personnel for emergency rescue operations in the forest. The Carlton County Riders club maintains and uses its ATV trails. These nonprofit groups receive grants-in-aid from the DNR as well as support from Sappi and others. Snowmobilers, ATV riders and residents whose lands border the Fond du Lac Forest have similarly encountered trail-disrupting logging operations, including belligerent loggers who block access and use foul language.
Encouraging trail use - including hiking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing - has long been a key mission of Minnesota's DNR. Its newly appointed commissioner, Sarah Strommen, embraces the commitment to getting people outdoors. Skiers, hikers and snowshoers use and value the Fond du Lac Forest, requiring fewer miles of trail than mechanized users. We use our trails often, sometimes several times a week, alone or in small groups. Some use the ski trail to practice for Mora's Vasaloppet and Wisconsin's Birkebeiner. On the weekends, we encounter people from farther afield - eastern Carlton County, Duluth, Grand Rapids, the Twin Cities area, and Wisconsin - some staying at area B&Bs. I publicize the trail with the North Star Ski club and the Minnesota Rovers.
As recently as 2014, the DNR offered us $2,000 to groom the Rogers Lake Ski Trail. Since then it has discontinued its support for grooming in both the Fond du Lac State Forest and Moose Lake State Park. It's hard to understand the logic of this, especially given the resurgence of individual, non-mechanized outdoors sports as a health trend.
Our case for modest DNR trails funding for ski trail maintenance and grooming is strong. Skiers must have a current Minnesota ski pass to use the trails. People in our area vigorously supported the Legacy Amendment in the 2008 election. A good chunk of this money, which we all pay through sales taxes, goes to the DNR.
We're hoping the DNR, in addition to better monitoring of logging operations, will reconsider and make a modest commitment to the maintenance and grooming of our ski trail and others.
Ann Markusen is an economist and professor emerita at the University of Minnesota. A Pine Knot board member, she lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli.
