Regional trails are cleared of snow only if cities do it

In winter, Three Rivers Park District's 10 popular regional trails are up for adoption.

Those in cities such as St. Louis Park, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park are picked up, reflecting a local desire to keep the trails clear during snowy months for walkers, runners and even bike commuters.

Others draw no champions and are quietly snowed in. They include the Dakota Rail and Lake Independence trails, which are lined by cities unwilling to take on the maintenance and liability.

Three Rivers tends to the trails spring, summer and fall. But from Nov. 15 to March 31, they're closed unless cities choose to take over the maintenance of segments within their jurisdictions.

"We don't have the capacity to operate all these many miles of trails in the winter," said Margie Walz, the district's associate superintendent.

Since the mid-1990s, Three Rivers has given cities the option to use city crews to keep the trails open.

St. Louis Park clears snow from the Cedar Lake LRT Regional Trail from Minneapolis through St. Louis Park to Hopkins.

Brooklyn Center's segment of the North Mississippi Regional Trail is just four blocks, but the city keeps it open all winter because it links residents to a larger trail system, said Todd Berg, supervisor of parks and streets. "It's a pretty important part of the park system for residents."

In Brooklyn Park, "we would hear from our residents" if the city didn't plow the 4 miles of Rush Creek Regional Trail and the 4 miles of the Shingle Creek Regional Trail that run through town, said Jon Oyanagi, director of recreation and parks. Golf course employees get winter trail maintenance duties because the city thinks it's important to provide residents with "fitness and year-round outdoor opportunities," he said.

Minnetonka and Excelsior regularly take on segments of the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail. Golden Valley, Greenwood, Hopkins, Maple Grove, Plymouth, New Hope and Shorewood also adopt the stretch of trails within their borders.

Eden Prairie plows the Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional Trail for walking, jogging and bike commuting, said Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer. "More and more, people getting into year-round bike commuting use that as a safe way to commute," he said.

Taking on a trail segment for the winter comes with rules. Three Rivers requires cities to obtain a permit and buy liability insurance as well as plow, sweep, sand, pick up trash and post permissible activities.

The district also requires cities to repair trail surface damage done during the winter.

So far officials along the 13-mile Dakota Rail Trail, which has quickly become one of the most popular in the state, have decided not to take on these responsibilities.

"We don't do any trails in terms of snow removal for winter maintenance — we don't have the resources to do that," said David Abel, assistant planner for Minnetrista, home to 2 to 3 miles of the paved trail.

Mound, at the midway point of the Dakota Rail Trail, is in the process of putting in a bathroom for users of the trail but won't plow it this winter.

City Public Works Superintendent Jim Fackler said the permit required "is pretty specific about how everything needed to be done, and they [council members] were not comfortable with that."

Neighboring Spring Park and Minnetonka Beach also will let their segments of the Dakota Rail Trail close for the winter.

"We discuss it every year," said Spring Park utility superintendent DJ Goman . "We do not do the snow removal, ice removal — any of that."

Minnetonka Beach considers care of the trail "too much maintenance," said city Administrator Suzanne Griffin.

In cities where trails are not plowed, Three Rivers posts warnings that they won't be maintained but does not bar people from using them, Walz said.

Come spring, "we take the trails back."