In three earlier posts, we'd looked at concerns that a plan to clear-cut trees as part of Minnesota Department of Transportation to need to resurface Highway 34. The road part of the Lake Country Scenic Byway is a tourist attraction due to its beauty, including roadside patches of Showy Lady's Slippers, the state flower.
The Department of Transportation has refused to back down from the destruction, but Becker County and other local governments aren't backing down in trying to protect the natural beauty of the scenic drive.
At the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Nathan Bowe reported Thursday in Becker County calls for halt on cutting trees on Hwy 34:
Becker County has asked Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Transportation for a moratorium on the extensive tree-cutting planning for Highway 34 this year.
The Becker County Board unanimously supported asking the state for the moratorium at its meeting Tuesday.
The White Earth Nation also will weigh in on the issue, and will send letters to Walz and MnDOT leadership, said White Earth General Counsel Antonio Solorzano, who was at the Becker County Board meeting Tuesday.
“White Earth has concerns about MnDOT cutting to that extent,” Solorzano said.
As part of a roadway improvement project, MnDOT plans to cut back all trees 65 feet on both sides of Highway 34 over a 21-mile stretch of scenic byway from Four Corners to just west of Osage.
And more tree-cutting will go back 150 feet south of the highway throughout a 7-mile stretch of the Smoky Hills State Forest.
Tree-removal bids could be let as soon as this month and the cutting is expected to begin shortly after that – including mature and old-growth red pine.
“That’s going to decimate our scenic byway – everybody is very upset,” Scott Sonstegaard told commissioners Tuesday at the Becker County Board meeting. “Why can’t we get MnDOT to listen to us? We want the beautiful road to stay beautiful.”
Sonstegaard, who owns Becker Pet and Garden in Detroit Lakes, was at the meeting with Detroit Lakes Chamber Tourism Director Cleone Stewart, county resident Willis Mattison, and Bill Henke, who is co-president of the local Izaak Walton League Chapter.
“No matter what we bring up, MnDOT goes by old regulations,” Stewart said. “They won’t change, even though people want change.”
MnDOT wants to cut the trees to improve safety, but in this case the costs to a beloved stretch of roadway aren’t worth it, said Becker County Commissioner Barry Nelson. “I don’t think it will improve safety enough to justify what will be lost,” he said.
For some reason, speeding and reckless driving have become more of a problem in Minnesota since the pandemic hit, but cutting down all the trees isn’t the solution, Henke said. “It’s very simple with this highway – slow down. You don’t have to drive so fast – this is a road to enjoy the scenery.”
Most accidents along that stretch of road have not involved hitting trees, he said. . . .
Read the rest at the Detroit Lakes paper. Bowe concludes with news of a meeting of the resistance:
A public meeting on the Highway 34 project, co-hosted by the Friends of the Lake Country Scenic Byway and Prairie Woods Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA), is set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 at the Jack Pines Resort near Osage.
I hope the local folks win this one.
Relate
- Letter: MNDOT's plan to resurface Hwy 34 may ruin Lake Country Scenic Byway
- Update: Becker County Board of Commissioners asks MnDOT to save Hwy 34's scenic beauty
Photo: A group of Showy Lady's Slippers along Highway 34. They are the official state flower, but that offers them no special protections. Contributed to the Detroit Lakes Tribune/ Kelly Blackledge.
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