When Father Baraga’s Cross was moved earlier this year, the pathway to the cross was improved. Plans call for more enhancements—removing dead trees and brush, planting trees, refinishing picnic tables, repairing a grill, and refurbishing signs.
“Spring is coming back to Father Baraga,” Jim Norvell told the Schroeder Township Board on May 8. Volunteers will be needed in June to help plant trees at the site, which includes a picnic area on the Lake Superior shoreline along with a walkway to the historic site. “Many hands will make the work go faster,” he wrote in an update he gave the board.
“We have identified several grant sources and are in the process of making preparations of proposals to them,” he wrote. He said grantors look for signs of local investment.
“In the future, we will need a letter of support from the township,” said Skip Lamb. He said the Schroeder Area Historical Society and Zoar Lutheran Church have ongoing interest in the site. The Catholic diocese of Duluth also has an investment there as well.
Plans for the site include granite benches and a sign leading into the area.
As a project that will lead to Eagle Scout rank, Kyle Martinson volunteered to lead a group that will make improvements to include removing brush and dead trees, refinishing picnic tables and the grill, and refurbishing signs. “You’d be surprised at how much brushing needs to be done,” said Norvell. “It will look really nice when it’s done.”
The picnic area and historic site draws both locals and visitors. People go in and out of there all the time, all year, ‘round, said Norvell.
On August 5, the Catholic bishop from the Duluth diocese will rededicate the site. It was originally dedicated in 1932.
Fire and rescue
Fire Chief Phil Bonin reported that the department had a few rescue calls—“nothing too serious yet”—but no fire calls in the last month.
Bonin gave a good report on the recent Emergency Services Conference in Grand Marais. He said, “The four-wheel rescue was really good for the squad” and asked the board to send a couple hundred dollars to the Cook County Emergency Management Department. The “burn trailer” that allowed them training in entering a burning structure during the conference cost $7,000. The Schroeder Fire Department currently has more money in its training fund than it needs, he said.
The board voted to send $200 to Cook County Emergency Management.
Road and bridge
Bonin reported that a beaver dam caused water to come up close to one of the township roads but then went back down. Supervisor Tina McKeever said she learned at a joint township meeting that townships now have authority to get rid of beavers causing problems in ditches.
Recreation
Carol Tveekrem said she received a letter from Mike Lynch of the U.S. Forest Service saying that the Cook County Invasive Species Team was offering to help get rid of invasive species in the park and where the old café used to be. “He has some sort of pesticide that doesn’t kill off everything else,” she said. She said she would be meeting with him on May 11.
Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever said he was on a job in Cook County and saw a tree with a vine wound so tightly around it that the trunk was bulging around it.
Highway 61
County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he is trying to get Rob Ege and Todd Campbell of the Minnesota Department of Transportation to come to a Schroeder Township Board meeting. He suggested that the board discuss with them the problem of accidents at the Minnesota Power entranceway where trucks coming out are hit by cars on the highway before they can get up to highway speed.
County business
Bill McKeever said he thinks the aerial pictometry the county is paying $187,000 for should allow the county to lay three people off. It will be used to help with things such as Highway Department road projects and properties that need to be inspected.
County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said 44 buildings that had been unknown to the county were discovered by aerial pictometry after the 2007 Ham Lake fire.
“I think we should discourage the county from using fire to find buildings!” Skip Lamb quipped.
“Every time they take pictures I’m going to write something on my roof!” Fire Chief Bonin said.
Maintenance
County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said the Cook County Highway Department would start its annual brushing on the west end of the county this year.
A new flagpole is needed on the town hall property. The board discussed options, including an aluminum pole for $80 at Menard’s and water pipes that could be donated by McKeever’s Well Drilling. Township Clerk Doug Schweke said he wasn’t sure how long an aluminum pole would last, and Bill McKeever said water pipes might need to be painted every couple of years.
The flagpole pulleys also need to be replaced, but the board wasn’t sure how to get up there to replace them. Bill McKeever said former clerk Carol Tveekrem could shinny up there as needed now that she is no longer township clerk “and has nothing better to do.”
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