Enhance Public Recreation Values

Northern Minnesota is renowned for its outdoor recreation opportunities, vast tracts of wilderness, and extensive freshwater resources. The most popular recreational pursuits include hunting, camping, snowmobiling, hiking, fishing, ATV riding, wildlife watching, off-road bicycling, cross-country skiing, and berry picking. Enhancing recreation value is both a social and economic benefit to the people of the county by providing a source of tourism as well as local recreation.

Proper forest recreation management should enhance the recreation experience, while at the same time, complement and protect the forest resource. Uncontrolled, poorly designed or over-used recreational development can threaten the very resource that provides the recreational value. The Natural Resources Management Department will:

• Provide recreational opportunities by ensuring the lands under our care are open to the public for dispersed recreation.
• Work with government agencies and others to create and maintain recreation areas and trails.
• Control recreation access where there is a risk to public safety or a risk of damage to the environment or to the cultural or economic resources.