Hi, I love to get outside and explore all that our great state has to offer.  I participate in many different types of parks and trails usage, motorize and non-motorized.  There is room for all of us!  They key is to better isolate the non-compatible modes of trail and park usage.  The big opportunity that I see is for a body that would have comprehensive oversight for mapping all of the trails and where they currently are connected and not connected.  We have Federal, State, County, City and Private trail networks in our state.  It is very difficult to find maps and information showing how they are all connected, overlapping or missing a link.

Greetings! It's exciting to see such growth in non-motorized transportation advocacy in Minnesota. My dream bucket list: a nationwide bicycle route system; increased funding at all levels for better bike/ped facilities, education and advocacy; more emphasis at the K-12 level for lifelong physical fitness and wellness programming through active transportation; a statewide shared-use pathway system in Minnesota with connectivity to all trails; adoption of "complete streets" philosophy by state and local jurisdictions; increased emphasis on development of mountain bike facilities in state and federal lands; and let's get the Mesabi trail completed to Ely! OK, lots to ask for but worth it.  

Hi - As a lifelong Minnesotan with outdoor interests, I know that our MN Parks and Trails are unsurpassed as a natural asset! Just travel to another state and compare. I believe we need to PRESERVE, MAINTAIN and ADD TO them while encouraging gentle use among all ages and races. I believe strongly that it is our (adult citizens) responsibility to each young children to KNOW, LOVE and PROTECT our natural heritage or it may be lost forever.

Hi - I live in Duluth and I would like to see a single track mountainbike/multiuse trail system that spans all the way across Duluth from Jay Cooke to the Lester River.  Duluth has several great trail systems (i.e. Hartley, Lester, Piedmont, etc...) but they are not interconnected which if they were interconnected would make an epic trail system that has significant regional importance.

I would also like to see a mountain bike trail system built in the new Vermillion State Park similar to what was done in Cyuna.  There aren't any good mountain bike trails in the Ely, Tower, Virginia area.  The Vermillion State Park would be a great location for a mountain bike/multi-use trail system.

I would also like to see the Munger trail connected all the way to the Twin Cities and the North Shore trail completed all the way to the Canadian border so that a person could bike on a paved trail from the Twin Cities to the Canadian border.  I would also like to see a paved trail from Grand Rapids to Ely completed.

I am excited about the Park and Trails Legcay Project and the connection it can make between communities in Southwestern Minnesota.  This project has the potential of giving residents the opportunity to interface with nature through walking and riding.

Working with Rock County and the Luverne Area Chamber I also can see the socio-economic benefits of a regional trail system...to build a way for the citizens to connect to eachother.  We need to keep working together to build the regional trail system!

I have lived my whole life in northern Minnesota.  I have camped and hiked with my parents and my children and had a wonderful time.  I'm also a snowmobiler(40 years)and remember when there weren't any trails to speak of.  I in the last ten years I love to ATV with my wife, children and now grandchildren.  I would like to see all the bickering stop and people to realize that nature is there for everybody to enjoy no mater what source of transportation is used.  Parks and trails should include all forms of transportation. Trails have a very large economic impact in the rural areas, restaurants, motels, and all services.  I pay for a trail permit and license to use the trails in the winter on snowmobile.  In summer i pay for license to use what few trails are available for ATV's.  Paved trails are wonderful for hikers, bikers and skaters to use free.  I help pay for those as a taxpayer also.  Make parks and trails available to all and police and enforce the laws applicable.  People that hike and bike are not immume to litter and tresspass problems either.  Use and do not abuse our parks and trails.

I grew up in west central MN and spent a lot of time outdoors, in part because there wasn't much else to do.  My appreciation for nature and ecology came for time spent hunting, fishing, swimming, biking, skiing and just plain exploring.  Now I am back in the area, and working to expand the state trail system in Pope, Swift, Stevens and Kandiyohi counties. 

I also live for a time in England.  There, hiking or "hill walking" is a very popular activity.  Public footpaths across private land are everywhere.  I would like to see something like that here.  For instance, a hiking trail along the Glacial Ridge Trail scenic byway, linking Glacial Lakes state park to Sibley state park.  The cost would be miminal, the local economic impact significant, and more people could enjoy the scenery, flora and fauna in this part of Minnesota.

I tromped around undeveloped public or private open space during my single digits and teens, in the city and suburbs back east.  Did this weigh strongly into my educational degrees and career path in ecology, deep appreciation of undeveloped nature as Conservation Chair of the MN Native Plant Society, and hauling infants, toddlers, and willing teens into the BWCAW on family vacations? I believe so and that great numbers of today's city-born and raised kids require exposure to urban, undeveloped open space to develop future leaders and supporters of parks and trails and all they do for satisfying core elements of human nature.

I love biking, hiking, and camping.  Minnesota's parks and trails are invaluable. I have worked around the capitol for the past three legislative sessions, and appreciate this important space for dialogue.

I just graduated high school and moving on to college in two weeks. I am not a person that is into nature. I am a city girl that rarely goes camping or anything that has to do with nature. But I do appreciate parks and the adventure that parks and trails provide. I think my perspective will be valuable to the design challenge because I will give the ideas on how to reach people that are not into nature and such.