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A trail of man-made snow at Elm Creek Park Reserve allowed Josh Letofsky of nearby Osseo, Minnesota, to competes in a ski race on December 19, 2006.
The meet was the first at Elm Creek this season. Two prior events were cancelled when warm temps and rain melted the artificial snow. Photo by Jill Jerdee Jim Deane looks back at the growth by Stephen Paske Maple Grove, Minnesota, is the epitome of how today's suburbs are changing. Twenty years ago this distant northwestern suburb of Minneapolis was sprinkled with cornfields, an occasional strip mall, and traffic was down at the bottom of people's list of troubles. Then came the explosion.
Elm Creek Park, the biggest nature reserve in the recently renamed Three Rivers Park District has changed, too. Unlike the rest of Maple Grove, however, the change over the past 10 years has every appearance of being for the better. During this time, the miles of paved bike trails within the park boundaries has more than doubled. Lights follow the ski trails so area residents have the option of skiing during the long, dark nights of Minnesota's winters. Man-made Lake, a once virtually unswimable pond infested with goose feces, is now chlorinated and has a filtration system. When I left 10 years ago, you couldn't see your fingers if you stuck your hand beneath the surface of the water. Now you can see your feet 5 feet deep. Coon Rapids Dam saw repairs, disparate trails now connect, new golf courses prove popular, snow-making machines hum when Mother Nature doesn't and even an off-road running course now winds through Gale Woods. All this couldn't have been cheap. Or was it? "Most people love our parks," said former District 1 Park Commissioner Jim Deane, also the former mayor of Maple Grove. "And when they find out that they pay about $80 a year in property tax (for parks) on a $300,000 home, they generally say they'd pay two or three times as much." Asked if there was much opposition to paying for all the upgrades, Deane said there was hardly any resistance. After all, only about 2 percent of the Hennepin County budget is spent on parks. "If you're attending a tax meeting, are you more likely to argue for reducing that 2 percent to 1.7 percent so you can save about three bucks?" Deane asked. "Or are you more likely to be worried about the bigger percentage" of 80 percent that pays for police, courts and the county hospital? With 38 years of experience on the Maple Grove Park Board and as liaison to the park board as mayor, Deane has spent half his life helping build a quality park system for Maple Grove residents. He's also quick to admit he didn't do it alone. "Certainly the foresight of previous county commissioners buying over 30,000 acres of land has helped contribute to our strong presence. I don't know if it would be possible to obtain 30,000 acres in today's real estate market," he said. Ten years back, when Deane was a cross-country running coach abusing my teammates and me with wicked workouts on a brutally hilly ski trail, I would have angrily argued against buying the land. Deane would only have used it to further torture us. But as I run the same trails today, I fully appreciate the treasure that is the Three Rivers Park system. Bike and ski trail expansion One of the most noticeable differences from just a decade ago is the expansion of the bike trails as well as the improvement and lighting of the ski trails. Cross-country skiers who can't afford to take time off from work can now arrive at the newly renovated ski center late into the evening. With trails officially open until 10 p.m., they can rip off a solid workout and warm up with a cup of hot cocoa afterward. This is possible for a nominal $4 daily fee or $40 for a season pass. If skiing is not your thing, the 15 miles of bike trails added in 2002 have opened up the northern section of the park previously accessible only on rough unmapped horse trails. Now, with a mountain bike or a pair of running shoes, you can devise a virtually infinite number of looped routes. And those who prefer pavement have more than enough trail to keep themselves occupied, too. Before Deane's term as parks commissioner ended December 31, 2006, he said he was confident the trail expansion would continue. "We've realized how beneficial the trails are perceived to be within the community, and how important it is for us to link our larger parcels of land together by trail," he said. "By the time we're finished, we should have miles and miles of connecting trail." Examples include the 10- to 12-mile Loose Line Gravel Trail through Wayzata and the Dakota Rail Trail utilizing abandoned rail lines that stretch 30 miles to St. Bonnie. That latter trail project is contingent on the Minneapolis Rail Authority's acquisition of land. The park district also schedules renovation of each trail once every seven years. "It takes the guess work out of budgeting," Deane said. "It's my hope that we can provide the public with as many basic services without cost as possible," Deane continued. "It's easy to make that determination on things that are clearly extras like golf courses, groomed horse trails or lighted ski trails. Those are the things we all agree we want to try and recoup some of the costs through user fees." Explosive growth and development has radically altered the face of what once were the exurbs of the Twin Cities. As farm fields and large wooded lots disappeared, the Three Rivers Park District increasingly became a natural refuge for those of us addicted to running, skiing, biking, in-line skating and swimming in the great outdoors. The parks system in my current home of Milwaukee has been racked by budget and service cuts, and subsequent deterioration. The citizens of Milwaukee County are left with a park system far inferior to that of the Three Rivers Park District. So if you're a resident or visitor to the Twin Cities metro area who bikes or skis, horseback rides or golfs, or just loves hill workouts like a sadistic cross-country coach, you can appreciate the gem of a park system this is. When I go back home and run within Elm Creek's boundaries, I can think of almost nothing else I'd be more willing to pay for. Stephen Paske is the author of numerous articles related to running and the book Breaking Stride, published in 2006. More information can be found at www.stephenpaske.com.
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