The Boy Scouts of America are going to make some significant contributions to U.S. Forest Service projects in Cook County this June. Three areas in the Gunflint and Tofte ranger districts will be enhanced with the help of several hundred Scouts in the esteemed Order of the Arrow, a Boy Scout honor society that provides significant contributions to communities through large-scale service projects.
Projects being proposed include establishing mountain bike trails in the vicinity of Pincushion Mountain near Grand Marais and in the vicinity of Britton Peak near Tofte and constructing campsites and re-establishing portage trails in the Vegetable Lakes semi-primitive non-motorized area near Greenwood Lake off the Gunflint Trail.
When finished, the Pincushion project would result in 11 to 12 miles of single-track mountain bike trails off the Pincushion trailhead about three miles northeast of Grand Marais. The Britton Peak bike trail would result in about eight miles of single-track mountain bike trails in three loops off the Britton Peak trailhead about four miles north of Tofte. Both projects would be completed with hand tools.
The Vegetable Lakes project would result in five campsites, one portage 40 rods in length, one boardwalk 12.5 rods in length, and improvement and re-opening of 740 rods of existing portages, also using hand tools.
Most but not all of the work would be done by the Boy Scouts.
A public scoping period lasting until February 9 has been initiated to identify any significant environmental issues related to the projects. More information on the projects is available online at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/superior/ projects or by calling Forest Service employees Dave Bartol at (218)387-3212 or Steve Schug at (218)663-8083.
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