Trail clearing has begun on the South Fowl Snowmobile Access, which will serve as a winter connection between McFarland and South Fowl lakes. Volunteers from the Arrowhead Coalition for Multiple Use and U.S. Forest Service personnel worked together on the trail on May 30. (L-R) Diane Greeley, Eric Nelms, John McClure, Gary Trovall, Jeff DeShaw, Chuck Silence (front), Tom Kaffine. (Not pictured U.S. Forest Service Recreation Specialist Jon Benson.)
The U.S. Forest Service is working with the State of Minnesota, Cook County, and volunteers from the Arrowhead Coalition for Multiple Use (ACMU) to implement the South Fowl Lake Snowmobile Access Project on the Gunflint Ranger District of the Superior National Forest. This project will provide snowmobile access from McFarland Lake, at the end of the Arrowhead Trail, to South Fowl Lake.
The trail replaces the previous Tilbury Trail, which was closed in 2003 after it was discovered to be a non-compliant use in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Currently, crews are finalizing trail layout and construction plans, conducting remaining biological survey work, and have begun to clear brush along the 2.2-mile length of the trail. The intent is to complete construction in time for snowmobilers to use the trail this coming winter.
Forest Service spokesperson Kristina Reichenbach said in addition to trail construction this summer and fall, Superior National Forest staff will develop the monitoring aspect of the project with plans to closely watch and report on trail conditions and use during next winter.
On February 13, 2015, Judge John Tunheim issued the long-awaited opinion on the U.S. Forest Service 2006 decision to construct the snowmobile trail between McFarland and South Fowl lakes in Hovland.
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