ORONO PARKS OVERVIEW

Bederwood Park/Lowry Woods Nature Conservation Area/Summit Beach/Orono Public Golf Course/Hackberry Park/Big Island/Donation Garden Park

Bederwood Park Spring 2021: Rocks were moved, earth was carved out creating fresh water stream bed erosion, trees were cut and new tree shoots and native plants were pulled. Tree roots were exposed and the forest floor laid bare. The environment was ribboned breaking up the Big Woods making it even more difficult to regenerate itself. Lots of wildlife live here and use this area as a corridor to Lake Minnetonka and the forests all around.

Hennepin County GIS Map Showing Bederwood Big Woods area in red as an “Ecologically Significant Area”. Listed as a Maple and Basswood Forest this area contains Maple and Oak trees between 120 - 195 years old. The various wetlands are shown in yellow, dark and light blue.

HOW WE STARTED: These are photos of the degradation in #BederwoodPark from the Spring of 2021. We found rocks moved, trees cut, brush cleared and the earth carved away from the forest floor. The freshwater stream had cut tree trunks and brush thrown into the flow as the beginning of a “natural bridge”. Erosion to the stream banks had already begun and would further erode with continued niche activities throughout the spring and summer. Keeping this particular stream clear is important because it feeds Lake Minnetonka’s Stubbs Bay which is already one of the dirtier bays on the lake.

As time has gone on the entire park has been degraded with the catch pond repeatedly used a jump in summer and in winter. The soccer field and the rest of the park has turned into an open race course with tracks chewing up the turf. We’ve repeatedly asked that year round racing in the park to end to no avail.

To watch this happening has been disheartening, but the neighborhood has pulled together to ask for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet. Although the City of Orono stated that no further government action was required, we know that they allowed this racing activity in 2022 and may in 2023. We filed a Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA) case that is pending to save both Bederwood Park and Lowry Woods. Some of our greatest natural treasures in Orono are our natural resources including old growth trees, wetlands, streams and lakeshore.

This is why we came together to form Friends of Orono.

THEN WE FOUND That #LowryWoodsNatureConservationArea had been cut into trails for the same racing activity without public notification. Although this activity took place in the fall of 2020, we noticed that it was continuing throughout 2021 and now into 2022. Clearly against Nature Conservancy covenants, Lowry Woods had been used repeatedly with anywhere from 10 - 30 participants in multiple rotations for scheduled practices. The Lowry Woods and the private path from the Luce Line has always been welcome to hikers but a large sign clearly marked “No bikers” was ignored.

This community ed team, with over 60 members, along with the City of Orono have not gained permission to cross private property with their equipment.  Three or four months of racing in the #LowryWoods meant that private property had been trespassed hundreds of times. The idea of the Lowry Woods Nature Conservation Area becoming a public race track is not appealing to the neighbors who find it will devalue their lands and degrade the natural experience. The City of Orono’s Park Commission had highlighted the Lowry Woods trail from the Luce Line as their number one goal for 2022 despite strong opposition from constituents. Now in 2023 both Council member Victoria Seals and Park Commissioner Rick Carter have continued to contact a certain few residents without involving the neighborhood nor the public in their plans or communication.

Hennepin County GIS Map Showing Lowry Woods Nature Conservation Area in red as an “Ecologically Significant Area”. Listed as a Maple and Basswood Forest this area contains Maple and Oak trees and various other trees between 150 and over 200 years old. The various wetlands are shown in yellow, dark and light blue.

THE THIRD PARK we learned about was #SummitBeach in #LongLake Minnesota. This is Orono’s largest swimming beach but it certainly isn’t big piece of property at 4.8 acres, less than half appears to be buildable. The other portion is a ravine and wetlands while the hill holds dozens of old growth trees. This parcel of land was donated by Bruce Dayton in the late 1970s to the City of Orono explicitly for a public park.

Twice, the City of Orono has worked with a local niche group to propose building a private clubhouse on this land. The first proposal was a 9000 square foot building concept plan that was reviewed by the park commission and city council. There was no public hearing and the proposal went quiet for almost two years.

In January 2022, the proposal was officially submitted as a 7666 square foot building which was tabled at the planning commission after strong opposition. On January 24, 2022, the City of Orono formed a special parks committee to develop yet another master plan for Summit Beach to keep alive this proposal that goes against the wishes of neighbors and park goers around the metro area. The approved new plan calls for a $300k toilet and warming house against the wishes of nearly 2000 citizens including the Dayton family. The plan is to also pave the parking lot also against the overwhelming majority of citizens. See documentation for more information.

Hennepin County GIS of Summit Beach showing Wetland areas in the Residential Neighborhood in Long Lake Minnesota.

THE FOURTH ORONO PARK that was to be developed was the #OronoPublicGolfCourse in the fall of 2022. This nearly 100 year old historic 9 hole golf course is one of the prized destinations for league and youth golfers. Two listening sessions were held while Orono City staff drafted a youth grant for a hockey rink to be placed inside the golf course just off the first hole.

The plan was for the rink to convert to Pickleball courts in the summer in this quiet residential neighborhood. Unrest ensued, and the youth grant was not approved by early March of 2023. The City of Orono pulled the application and still to this date, four Park Commissioners are determined to develop the golf course into something that nearly one thousand citizens have signed a petition against: https://www.change.org/p/keep-orono-public-golf-course-dedicated-to-golf-aa9da0c8-9ecd-4cb1-bcf2-d393076f2cfd?source_location=search

5 Different wetland areas at the Orono Public Golf Course marked in Red.