PARKS & TRAILS COUNCIL LEADING EFFORT TO UNIFY A NORTH SHORE VOICE

LUTSEN, MN - The North Shore of Lake Superior is home to glorious adventure, breathtaking natural scenery, assorted wildlife, robust forests and an abundance of park and recreational opportunities. The North Shore is also home to growing development and population pressures, declining state natural resources funding and an ever-increasing diversification of community stakeholders.

Because all of these factors are converging in unpredictable ways in a place that is special to so many, the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota convened the North Shore Parks and Trails Leadership Summit at Lutsen Resort & Sea Villas on Jan. 20-21, 2006. With 70 leaders present from 26 organizations representing a diverse cross section of North Shore interests, the process of identifying both issues of consensus and looming challenges to North Shore parks and trails began.

"I think all of the stakeholders were here," said Bob Nesheim, Superior Hiking Trail Association vice president and Parks & Trails board member. "Not all of those stakes are identical and the opinions are diverse, but if we don't pull this information before the legislature nothing will happen. It's a good route to legislative access for public funding for what is really a public resource," Nesheim added.

Eight of Minnesota's 67 state parks are located on the North Shore. Partially connected by several major trails, these parks bring nearly 1.75 million visitors to the area annually according to Jim Willford, Northeast parks and recreation regional manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Energized by all of the networking that took place throughout the two-day Leadership Summit, participants agreed to continue their critical dialogue in a smaller group of 12 to 15 representatives in the hope that a stronger, more unified North Shore coalition and voice for parks and trails would emerge.

"I'm all for people working together, avoiding duplication, maximizing opportunities and sharing resources," said Mary Somnis, North Shore Scenic Drive Council acting board chair in describing her support for developing a more united North Shore voice.

Standing nearby, Andrew Slade, executive director for Sugarloaf: the North Shore Stewardship Association echoed Somnis' sentiment. "I hope to see more of a common language so that people understand what all of the issues are. Not just for their own individual groups but for everybody on the North Shore and that they are able to talk and work together so that we are all speaking from almost the same page." In addition to representatives from the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota, other organizations and governmental bodies in attendance included: the Superior Hiking Trail Association, the North Shore Scenic Drive Council, Sugarloaf: the North Shore Stewardship Association, the Gitchi-Gami Trail Association, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Grand Portage Band, the Lutsen Tofte Tourism Association, the National Forest Service, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the Two Harbors Area Chamber of Commerce, the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, the Cities of Tofte and Grand Marais, the Cook and Lake County Board of Commissioners, the Lutsen Township, Iron Range Resources, the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association and several North Shore businesses.