Dennis Anderson: Can we afford new state park?

SOUDAN, MINN. — Standing near this northeastern Minnesota village on Friday, on a rock outcropping overlooking Lake Vermilion, Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Holsten touted the advantages of adding another gemstone to the crown that is the state's park system.

Sprawling across 2,500 acres, and encompassing 5 miles of shoreline, the park would invite thousands upon thousands of campers and day users to what is one of the state's most beautiful areas.

The land, now owned by U.S. Steel, can be the state's if a deal is consummated by July 2008. If not, U.S. Steel will go ahead with plans to develop the property for private lakeshore residences — some 150 dwellings with an estimated value of at least $1 million apiece.

The proposed park land is worth perhaps $30 million to $50 million, officials suggest.

Another $20 million would be needed to build what Holsten on Friday, together with state parks director Courtland Nelson, described as a park for the times: one with Wi-Fi Internet access for campers, rental cabins, marina and full RV hookups.

Additionally, an interpretive center detailing the region's ecology and history is a possibility.

"We think this ought to be a priority," Holsten said, adding that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is highly supportive.

Flanking Holsten on Friday was state DFL Sen. Tom Bakk, chairman of the Senate Taxes Committee. Bakk is from Cook, the small town that lies hard by the western shore of Lake Vermilion.

"I wouldn't say I'm optimistic" that the Legislature will allot money for the park, Bakk said. "But I'm hopeful."

In addition to a brilliant cobalt sky, tall pines and blue water, Friday's media and public relations fest was long on irony.

In a state that boasts one of the best, and certainly the most diverse, state park systems — and whose citizenry enthusiastically utilizes that system — here was a discussion about funding a new park with hardly a mention of operations and maintenance funding shortfalls that plague the state's present parks, all 72 of them.

The funding problem is massive — a word not used lightly — and well-known by legislators, Bakk included, most of whom do nothing about the cash shortfalls during their annual gatherings.

Yet, and still, the Vermilion proposal is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Does that make it a good idea? Maybe yes, maybe no.

What's certain is that someone in the Legislature should use this juncture to study the state park system in its entirely. How large, exactly, is the system's maintenance and capital improvement backlog? How many staffing cutbacks must be restored to bring parks to appropriate employment levels? What land-in-holding purchases are necessary to complete parks already in the system?

Minnesotans love the outdoors, including their parks. But the system was developed in large part by politics. Some parks in the system simply never should have been added. Their costs outweigh their benefits. But they were added because legislators from those districts insisted.

Unfortunately, few legislators over time have insisted park funding be increased to sufficient levels.

Complicating the issue, as Nelson notes in the interview accompanying this column, the system can't raise fees beyond a certain point, especially because many of our parks feature outdated camping amenities.

Some northeastern Minnesota legislators and congressional representatives have a long history of opposing park development, be it expansion of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness or development of Voyageurs National Park.

Bakk conceded that point Friday. Still, he backs the Lake Vermilion project, saying that, unless such parks are developed, the time is coming when "regular working-class people" won't have access to many of the state's most beautiful places, Lake Vermilion included.

Fair enough.

But unless the Legislature begins to look critically at funding necessities of the state's parks, present and ongoing, and determines how such revenue can be raised, it's irresponsible to consider adding another property to the system.

Best might be that the Lake Vermilion opportunity becomes a catalyst that catapults the Legislature into a long-needed review of state parks and their funding.

Maybe we can have it all — our current parks and a new one, too.

But maybe, once the numbers are crunched, we can't.

Dennis Anderson • danderson@startribune.com