I took these photos on Saturday morning, just as we got the brief snow storm and temps began to plunge. See the complete album of 50+ photos, with a slideshow option.
2/12 update: I’ve created a narrated audio version of the above on YouTube.
I took these photos on Saturday morning, just as we got the brief snow storm and temps began to plunge. See the complete album of 50+ photos, with a slideshow option.
2/12 update: I’ve created a narrated audio version of the above on YouTube.
There’s a bill to remove part of Cannon River’s “Wild & Scenic” designation (state designation). It’s HF 2601, sponsored by Rep. Patti Fritz!
http://legalectric.org/weblog/2052/
Rep. Patti Fritz can be contacted at:
(651) 296-8237
(800) 292-0012
(507) 332-8143
E-mail: rep.patti.fritz@house.mn
Great photos Griff.
Carol,
why would they want the designation changed?
Here’s the Google map of the parking lot/pavilion area. I’ll contact Fritz to see what’s up. Thanks, Carol!
View Larger Map
If you look at the map to locate “all property west of Faribault Boulevard, north of 164th Street, and south of 158th Street” you’ll see that it’s on the West side of Hwy 3, quite a distance SW of the park. Here’s a screenshot of the map with the areas in question.
I’ve contacted Fritz’ office to see whassup but there doesn’t appear to be anything worrisome.
FYI, see the DNR web page on the Wild & Scenic Cannon River.
I just got a call back from Rep. Fritz’ assistant, Kate Perushek. She said that House research incorrectly mapped the boundaries in question so the Bill will be pulled tomorrow. Evidently a local resident wants to sell a chunk of the property in question but it’ll now be referred to Rice County to deal with.
Great pictures, Griff. That one designating the cross-country skiing trail pretty much describes my abilities there. I’ll stick to the April-October months.
Griff,
Thanks for the opportunity to visit the park from my office. We did the same thing in the winters with our growing family and visited the wilderness area often. We haven’t been to the park on the west side of the river in many years. We used to go in all seasons and enjoy the entrance from the eastern boundary just as much (although there’s no skiing on that side). I’m glad to know there’s no threat to the park.
Dan, Have you ever tried to go from one side of the park to the other… without wading across the river? It can be done! There’s a little used path that goes above the bluff.
No, never tried that. It’s a good motivator to tromp through the west side early in the spring before the path gets overgrown and disappears. Thanks for the tip.
Good to hear that bill (HF2601) will be withdrawn, I can’t see that removal of “Wild & Scenic” designation for any part of the Cannon River could be good for the river. I’ve checked the legislative site, and it was introduced yesterday and shortly thereafter, there was a “Motion to return bill to author, Motion prevailed” and the site doesn’t work to review what actually happened. But maybe this will be the last of it. FYI, I’d contacted Cannon River Watershed Partnership to find out if they were aware, if they were working on this, and not one of the three people I’d contacted responded! So I don’t know what their position was — anyone at CRWP care to weigh in on that? Anyway, a BIG thanks to Patti Fritz for looking at the big picture and the public interest and Cannon River interest!