At the May 25, 2016 Commission meeting, outgoing Chair Al Lieffort received warm recognition from the GMRPTC for his leadership as the founding chair of the Commission. Chair Lieffort was recognized by current Chair Mike Hulett, who presented Lieffort with a commemorative plaque. 

In his farewell speech, Lieffort emphasized and thanked the many people who came together several yeas ago to advocate on behalf of Greater Minnesota parks and trails. By working together, the original group created "The Coalition," currently known as Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails. Their vision of a system of regionally-significant but locally owned and managed parks and trails led to the current 40/40/20 funding allocation for Legacy Amendment Parks and Trails funding, with 40% going to DNR, 40% to Met Council, and 20% to the newly created GMRPTC. Without years of work by this group of visionary leaders, this new pot of funding for regional outdoor recreation facilities would likely never have happened.

Before departing the meeting, Commissioner Lieffort, a well known regional musician, performed an original composition on his mandolin. Based on the story of the Cuyuna Range's Milford Mine disaster, it paid tribute to an historical site that has been turned into an important Crow Wing County park. Thank you, Chair Lieffort, for all your work to create this hard working but fun group of Greater Minnesota advocates!

The trail planning, design, and development guidelines presented in this manual are the result of a multiyear effort by MN DNR. The goal of the project was to develop a consistent set of guidelines and common language for developing motorized and non-motorized trails at the local, county, regional and state level. The guidelines take into consideration and build upon past practices common to Minnesota.

This informative Guidelines volume received the Coalition for Recreational Trails' 2007 Annual Achievement Award for trail projects funded through the Recreational Trails Program of the Federal Highway Administration. 

​Guidelines are available for purchase from MN Bookstore: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/trails_waterways/index.html

​The GMRPTC has launched a news and information blog located on the GMRPTC website, www.gmrptcommission.org.  The blog can also be accessed through our Facebook and Twitter pages or via our new email list serve.
 
Announcements about GMRPTC application opening and deadlines, web features, and public events will be posted on the blog page. Additionally, users can access a rich library of parks and trails resources for park managers, planners and advocates. With classifications, such as “Emerging Trends and Design Ideas,” “Outdoor Recreation Research,” and “Agency Plans and Reports” this resource will make best practices and emerging trends in outdoor recreation just a click away.  If you find a great article or report, or write a plan you want to share, please forward it to us for review and potential addition to the library.
 
There are three ways to receive notice about new posts on this blog page. Use one or all of these methods, and share them with other outdoor recreation enthusiasts. Please note, if you have subscribed to any previous GMRPTC email list serve, you will need to re-subscribe to this new email service to receive notices posted on this page.
 
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Any questions, please contact System Plan Coordinator Joe Czapiewski at coordinator@gmrptcommission.org.