An oldy but goody: In mid-2005, Beltrami County established a Recreational Trails Advisory Task Force to oversee the comprehensive planning of trails on county lands. This document is the final product of the process, which was completed and adopted by the County Board in April of 2006. The Glass Half-Full: A New View of Rural Minnesota. Describing rural Minnesota can be a challenge. The structural changes we have witnessed in agriculture and manufacturing have certainly forced residents and decision makers to rethink our future. On top of this, literature is rife with descriptions of the loss of our children, the aging population, and outmigration. We believe this deficit view of our rural communities cannot continue to dominate our thinking about the future of our small towns. Camping is often to defined as temporarily living outdoors, but to the millions of people that love it, camping amounts to much more — reconnecting with nature, escaping the grind, spending time with family and friends. Indeed, camping is part of the American tradition. Research continues to underscore the importance in reaching Americans at an early age to instill a lifelong love of camping and inspire a healthy, active lifestyle. Among current camping participants, 85 percent took their first trip between birth and age 15. After age 15, the chances of being introduced to camping were slim. This document was created for the Greater MN Regional Parks and Trails Commission and summarizes a variety of recreational trends, themes and challenges. The Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission seeks applicants to serve on each of six District Planning Committees across the state. The purpose of the DPC's is to be the planning arm of the Commission by nurturing a district-level system of parks and trails that meet regional standards and by helping the Commission understand District-level issues. The application can be found at www.gmrptcommission.org, or attached to this post. Deadline for submitting applications is June 30, 2016. Questions may be directed to System Plan Coordinator Joe Czapiewski at [email protected]. Using demographic analysis of data from the Decennial Censuses of 1990, 2000 and 2010, this report updates research that examines migration patterns in and out of rural areas by generational age cohorts. The study brings to light a little-examined phenomenon regarding the migration of people age 30 – 49 into rural areas across Minnesota At the May 25, 2016 Commission meeting, outgoing Chair Al Lieffort received warm recognition from the GMRPTC for his leadership as the founding chair of the Commission. Chair Lieffort was recognized by current Chair Mike Hulett, who presented Lieffort with a commemorative plaque.
In his farewell speech, Lieffort emphasized and thanked the many people who came together several yeas ago to advocate on behalf of Greater Minnesota parks and trails. By working together, the original group created "The Coalition," currently known as Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails. Their vision of a system of regionally-significant but locally owned and managed parks and trails led to the current 40/40/20 funding allocation for Legacy Amendment Parks and Trails funding, with 40% going to DNR, 40% to Met Council, and 20% to the newly created GMRPTC. Without years of work by this group of visionary leaders, this new pot of funding for regional outdoor recreation facilities would likely never have happened. Before departing the meeting, Commissioner Lieffort, a well known regional musician, performed an original composition on his mandolin. Based on the story of the Cuyuna Range's Milford Mine disaster, it paid tribute to an historical site that has been turned into an important Crow Wing County park. Thank you, Chair Lieffort, for all your work to create this hard working but fun group of Greater Minnesota advocates! The trail planning, design, and development guidelines presented in this manual are the result of a multiyear effort by MN DNR. The goal of the project was to develop a consistent set of guidelines and common language for developing motorized and non-motorized trails at the local, county, regional and state level. The guidelines take into consideration and build upon past practices common to Minnesota.
This informative Guidelines volume received the Coalition for Recreational Trails' 2007 Annual Achievement Award for trail projects funded through the Recreational Trails Program of the Federal Highway Administration. Guidelines are available for purchase from MN Bookstore: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/trails_waterways/index.html The GMRPTC has launched a news and information blog located on the GMRPTC website, www.gmrptcommission.org. The blog can also be accessed through our Facebook and Twitter pages or via our new email list serve.
Announcements about GMRPTC application opening and deadlines, web features, and public events will be posted on the blog page. Additionally, users can access a rich library of parks and trails resources for park managers, planners and advocates. With classifications, such as “Emerging Trends and Design Ideas,” “Outdoor Recreation Research,” and “Agency Plans and Reports” this resource will make best practices and emerging trends in outdoor recreation just a click away. If you find a great article or report, or write a plan you want to share, please forward it to us for review and potential addition to the library. There are three ways to receive notice about new posts on this blog page. Use one or all of these methods, and share them with other outdoor recreation enthusiasts. Please note, if you have subscribed to any previous GMRPTC email list serve, you will need to re-subscribe to this new email service to receive notices posted on this page. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GMRPTC/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gmrptc or @gmrptc Receive Email updates: Complete subscription form at http://www.gmrptcommission.org/news Any questions, please contact System Plan Coordinator Joe Czapiewski at [email protected]. |
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