To the Grand Marais city councilors:
At the June 7, 2011 park board meeting, the park was offered the Outdoor Classroom Program for free, with no strings attached, along with a cash gift of over $6,000. The program, valued at more than $150,000, includes many hundreds of copies of nine field guides, three youth workbooks, and three family coloring books; a bicycle-powered kiosk; and five guided tours.
All publications and tours are designed specifically for the harbor and the Recreation Park. Field guides focus on nature: Birds; Reptiles & Amphibians; Trees & Shrubs; Flowers; Mushrooms; Ferns, Clubmosses & Horsetails, on history: Grand Marais Harbor, Reshaping 1870 to 2000; on Lake Superior: Big Water; and on Geology. Youth workbooks provide outdoor projects for kids emphasizing nature and the history of the harbor. Family coloring books invite families to visit specific Grand Marais locations. Contributions of art, photos, and text are from community volunteers.
The park board rejected this gift. Harbor Friends, creator of the program, is moving to an inactive mode. It will empty and close its bank account and no longer has a PO Box, email, website, or telephone. Contributions are now returned to sender.
Answering park board concerns: Any statement seeking program support in publications cannot be acted on. It was suggested by one park board member that such statements could be covered over.
The suggestion that children will commence wandering through camper areas is without merit as the program has operated for over three years without incident.
Space to accommodate public display of publications could be a wall area 43” tall by 28” wide. Sheltering the mobile kiosk would require a tarp. The $6,000 cash could easily help meet space concerns and buy a tarp.
This program supplies the educational programming required by the park’s master plan. It seems bizarre that this harbor and park-focused program will be sent to one of the two non-profits now offering to accept this gift.
The park board simply did not make a reasoned decision and only city councilors have the power to examine the legitimacy of park board objections and assess the value of the program for the city.
Molly Hoffman
Grand Marais
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