5.a Chair reportPRC Chair report – for January 4, 2021
CLFLWD meeting
I attended the December 17th Carnelian Lake Forest Lake Watershed District meeting to discuss the
possibility of partnering with the City of Scandia regarding plans for the city owned property north of
Bone Lake, now known as Trollskogen park.
Our agenda item was kicked off by Michael Kinney, the administrator of the watershed district. He
described the property and noted it was bounded by Moody Lake on the North and Bone Lake and DNR
property on the south. The watershed district has had many projects related to those two lakes. Not
surprisingly, they have multiple surveys and projects in the area, and are very familiar with that area.
I then explained that my intention at the meeting was to get introduced, discuss recent development
and future plans at the park and open a conversation regarding a partnership with the district.
They were very attentive and excited to learn about our desire to partner with them. I explained the
development of the trails along the west side of the park. Also, while we were unable to make much
progress in 2020 for the usual and apparent difficulties during the time of the pandemic, we expect to
do similar trail development in 2021 on the east side with the help of community volunteers. Finally, we
envision a boardwalk across the wetland on the northern edge of the park. Our intend is nature
preservation, education, quiet recreation, and community awareness.
They were very receptive to these ideas and discussed preliminary ideas such as ‘Green Lake Corridors,’
where the flow from Moody Lake through Bone through Little Comfort Lake could be developed to take
advantage of the flood control, water quality, natural habitat, or groundwater infiltration topics of the
area.
They mentioned that additional grants might be available.
Another preliminary idea arose when we discussed a possible boardwalk. A board member mentioned
that there is a boardwalk that was funded by a private party at the Warner Nature Center. Since that
center has now closed there may be an opportunity to harvest some of those materials and possibly
utilized them at this location.
Jackie Anderson, one of the managers, explained that our reach out to them is ‘exactly what they would
hope for’ and look forward to the opportunity to work together.
The board especially liked the possibility of using the area as an educational tool, to further enhance the
quality of the wetland, and to help develop a long-term view for that property.
At the end of the discussion, Ms. Anderson made a motion to instruct administrator Kinney to contact
and begin working with the city of Scandia and whoever else is needed (such as city engineer and
council or PRC member) to bring forward a proposal, a scoping document, or a preliminary report for
the property. One of the attendees noted that a hydrology report has recently been completed in this
area and would be a useful component for any future report. The motion passed. Mr. Kinney will reach
out to our city administrator soon to begin the discussion.
All in all, a positive meeting. I thanked the board for their interest and attention and looked forward to
working together.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Gorham
PRC Chair