Whitewater Country Loop Trail Construction in 2009 & 2010

Most of the Great River Ridge Trail from Elgin to Olmsted County Road 9 was paved in 2009. There is a 2 mile stretch that was too wet to finish up last fall but it will be paved in the spring of 2010. There is now 13 miles of trail built from Plainview to Cty Rd 9. The Chester Woods Trail segment from Olmsted County Road 11 to the front gates of Olmsted County ’s Chester Woods Park will be constructed in 2010. The Chester Woods Trail Committee is currently working with the DNR on land acquisition between Chester Wood Park and the City of Eyota.. The Whitewater-St.Charles Trail Committee has a DNR matching grant and has signed agreements with all of the landowners between the City of St.Charles and Whitewater State Park and is in the process of purchasing that land. Eighteen of the 50 miles in the Whitewater Loop will be paved by the end of 2010. With the land purchases this year we will have another 11 miles ready to go.

Dual Path that will include Horses Added

In 2006 a group of horse enthusiasts approached the Whitewater Country Loop Committee about adding horse trails adjacent to the non-motorized trails being planned. The Great River Ridge segment already had horse trails in their plans and a second tread-way has been added to the rest of the WCL plans. The horse paths will be added along with the rest of the trail construction in 2010. For more on trail plans you can look at the DNR’s Whitewater Country Loop State Trail Master Plan

Whitewater Country Loop 2009 State Trail Highlights

Nine Whitewater Country Loop Trail members attended the annual Parks & Trails Day on the Hill on March 3rd. We met Beth Coleman the new Parks and Trails Director and updated her on our 50 mile loop and the progress we are making. Cheryl Appledorn, a Environmental Research and Policy Consultant, Judy Erickson, Government Relations Director for the Parks & Trails Council, and Forrest Boe, Deputy Director of DNR Parks and Recreation Division gave us a breakdown of the existing funding sources for conservation and the State’s Parks and Trails. They informed us that at this point the DNR’s Parks and Trails aren’t being targeted for large budget cuts. Many of those cuts have already taken place in the last 6 years. How the new funds from the Constitutional Sales Tax Amendment will be divided is still being talked about. At this point the best guess is that our State funding sources will continue to be bonding funds and the sales tax funds will be used initially for trail and park maintenance which is sorely needed. Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, Chair of the Senate Parks and Trails Legacy Subcommittee, and Rep. Mary Murphy, Chair of the House Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division gave very informative talks about the expectations for the division of the sales tax funds and were overwhelmingly supportive of continuing the funding of Park and Trails. After lunch we met with Senator Foley and Rep. Alice Hausman. They are Chairs of Capital Finance and Capital Investment in their respective legislative bodies. We also met with Rep. Jean Wegneis who is House Chair of Natural Resources. We met with these leaders to thank them for their support in the past and to update them on the upcoming construction for the Chester Woods and Great River Ridge Trails, and to give them an update on the land acquisitions that the Whitewater/St.Charles and Chester Woods groups are pursuing this year. We also met with our local legislators to thank them and give them updates. They include Senator Ann Lynch, Rep. Andy Welti, Rep. Steve Drazkowski, Sen. Dave Senjem, and Rep. Greg Davids. It was a fun, information filled, hectic, but well worth it day. For more information: Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota - Newsletter concerning the Day on the Hill

2009 Lobby Trip to the Capitol

Whitewater Country Loop Trail members will be going up to attend the annual Parks & Trails Day on the Hill on March 3rd. There will be legislative updates and we will hear from legislative leaders on major issues impacting Minnesota ’s parks and trails systems. There will be a break for lunch and then we plan on meeting our area legislators so we can update them on what is going on with our trail efforts and get updates from them on what is happening this legislative session. For more details visit: Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota - Parks & Trails Day on the Hill

Whitewater Country Loop Trail Contruction in 2009

The Great River Ridge Trail segment is on tract to be paved from Elgin to Olmsted County Road 9 this year with trail work conducted from Cty Rd 9 south to State highway 14. The Chester Woods Trail segment will be constructed and paved from Olmsted County Road 11 to the front gates of Olmsted County ’s Chester Woods Park. The Great River Ridge group has 18 miles on an old railroad bed purchased and 5 miles of trail completed between Plainview and Elgin . They used $700,000 in federal funding to refurbish 30 railroad bridges and received $1.5 million in 2008 bonding money to pave the trail through Viola to right outside Eyota. Construction will take place in 2009.

The Chester Woods Trail Committee has purchased 5 miles of trail that will be paved from Rochester to Chester Woods Park in 2009. The next five miles from the park to Eyota is in the process of being acquired.

The Whitewater-St.Charles Trail Committee has a DNR matching grant and has signed agreements with all of the landowners between the City of St.Charles and Whitewater State Park .

Eighteen of the 50 miles in the Whitewater Loop will be paved by the end of 2009. With the land purchases this year we will have another 11 miles ready to go.