BENSON — With an eye toward attracting more visitors, and providing more recreation for residents, Swift County is moving forward with improvements to its two county parks, the Appleton Area Off-Highway Vehicle Park and the Swift Falls County Park.
The plans for the parks were outlined for the Swift County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 15 by Kody Fossum and Devon Savage with the county’s Parks, Drainage and Wetlands Department, and Jillian Reiner with Widseth Engineering.
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The biggest improvements are coming to the Appleton Area OHV Park, thanks to a $1.03 million America Rescue Plan grant.
The improvements include developed parking areas, all-terrain vehicle washing stations and restrooms.
The plans also include developing a beach and picnic area on the small lake in the park, according to Reiner. The swimming and fishing area will be accessed by a path from the main parking area. The path will meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
The beach will be 200 feet long and 50 feet wide, she told the commissioners. A concrete pathway will lead to a fishing pier on the south end of the lake.
The lake was Appleton’s original swimming area prior to the park’s flooding in 1997, according to Commissioner Gary Hendrickx, of Appleton.
The 348-acre park offers 20 miles of trails. It is one of the few parks offering trails to accommodate all four classes of off-highway vehicles.
The park attracts visitors from around the state and beyond, but there currently is no way to count how many users it hosts. There is no admission charged.
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It is a busy park, according to Fossum. Chief Deputy Mike Hoffman with the Swift County Sheriff’s Office concurred. It sees visitors all week long, and is especially busy on the weekends, he told the commissioners.
Overall, the improvements planned for the park are estimated to cost $1.25 million, according to Reiner. The county will be responsible for providing $250,000 in funds for the improvements based on the current estimates.
Plans and specifications for the improvements are now being reviewed by the federal Economic Development Administration, a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce responsible for administering the grant. Once approved, a call for bids can be made with expectations of awarding the project in the first quarter of next year.
Plans are moving forward to expand the park. Fossum said purchase agreements are in place to expand the park by approximately 280 acres.
He and Savage have been working with users of the park to determine what types of improvements are desired to attract more people. Large events held at the park this past summer brought large number of visitors to the parks and benefited the local economy, he pointed out.
Reiner described the park as a very unique park among the state’s regional parks. She said the Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails Commission has encouraged the county to apply for additional funds toward improvements.
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Swift Falls Park
Discussions with a committee of Swift Falls area residents and users of the Swift Falls County Park have led to a variety of suggestions on improvement to the quiet park on the Chippewa River in the community of Swift Falls.
Trail improvements, removing cattails and silt, and the possibility of removing the Swift Falls dam are among the suggestions raised at an initial meeting that attracted around 30 people, according to Fossum.
The county reopened and improved trails in the park this year due to the suggestions. The railings on one bridge have been replaced with plans to complete similar work on the other. Also, a grant from Countryside Public Health made it possible to install a picnic table and develop a viewing area overlooking the river on a park trail.
Improvements were made to the bathrooms, with textured flooring, graffiti-proof paint and LED lighting completed.
Park users and Swift Falls residents alike would like to see the cattails and sediment-choked upper basin cleaned out, said Fossum. Dredging would offer only a short-term fix, and would be extremely costly, he said.
A more viable option being explored is removing the 15-foot high dam. The concrete dam was built in 1967 in place of an original dam used for a mill at the site.
There is a good possibility of obtaining Minnesota Department of Natural Resources funding to remove the dam, according to Fossum. A series of rock riffles would replace the dam. The riffles and river continuity that the dam’s removal would make possible would improve fishing at the site.
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There is not yet consensus on whether to remove the dam or not, Fossum told the commissioners.
There’s strong interest in seeing WiFi for internet access provided in the park, he said.
Commissioner Eric Rudningen said the meeting with residents and park users made it clear: There is immense pride in the community for the park.
The park is seeing increased usage by both campers and day users. Its 32 campsites were full virtually every weekend through the summer with 645 different parties registered at the sites, according to information from the county.
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