Meeting with USFS
Banadad Trail Plan 2011
Grand Marais USFS District Office
Present: Ted Young, John and Barb Bottger, Pete Harris, Jon Benson (USFS Wilderness Manager, BTA ad-hoc), Steve Schug (USFS Asst. District Mgr,.))
Steve will be retiring in September. Jon will be our new contact. Contact information for Jon Benson:
218-663-8085
Ted presented general report for this past year. Good snow but low count on skiers mainly because the snow was good all over the state. The winter mix storm was costly.
In reference to the 2011 Banadad Trail Plan IV. Page 6:
Interior Widening is done.
Green Up has been done.
Request for MCC crews. USFS is using them for some major projects but believes we can get them on for the Banadad projects at the end of the season. They are needed at the west end from the Bedew Lake Yurt to widen. Ted figures it is a 6-day project.
West end reroute/easement is on hold until property sale goes through.
Prescribed Burn area. WInchell Lake Fire Trail. USFS will reopen fire trail and cut out all burnt trees…
Side note - Swamp Lake Portage to Poplar. There is an easement (now the snowmobile trail) and people use it as a portage in the summer and end up at Ted’s house. Request to Forest Service to put up signs to correct traffic flow. Forest Service will follow up.
Banadad Bridge – Got the beams in there.. Jim R. will take down trees from Ham Fire. USFS will grant an administrative permit within the next two weeks for a group of 8 people the weekend of September 17-18. Entry point is the Skipper Entry Point.
Mowing – Only possible if some money comes along.
Snow Season Emergency Cleaning – This is getting to be a regular need and it is expense and labor intensive. We need to come up with a plan to address this. The USFS agrees but cannot offer any aid. We can always ask but their budget doesn’t hold much hope.
Steve had comments about the BTA. He really likes the partnership with the association and the annual trail plan. It really makes the partnership a working, accountable relationship.
Meeting finished at 11:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by Barb Bottger, Secretary
