Cathy VanRisseghem: Camp Ripley Veterans State Trail (CRVST)

For 20 years I worked with Terry McGaughey, the Paul Bunyan Trail founder, to develop a trail system from Crow Wing State Park, through Little Falls, to the Soo Line Trail. At that time local officials felt it was not feasible to develop a trail in our area, so the Paul Bunyan Trail was completed without Little Falls. In 2008,when I became Mayor of Little Falls, I developed the Mississippi River Trail Committee, which eventually became the Camp Ripley Veterans State Trail Committee. .

The Camp Ripley Veterans State Trail Committee, consisting of over 98 organizations and individuals, are attempting to connect the Soo Line Trail to the Paul Bunyan Trail - the long term goal is that the CRVST will encircle Camp Ripley as well. The CRVST is a very important “missing link” between 7 other existing bike trails. The CRVST will also link many equestrian, ATV and snowmobile trails.

The CRVST is the first “State Trail” that by law, will be truly “multimodal by design” meaning it will accommodate motorized and non motorized trail users. When completed, this one of a kind trail system will become the longest, continuous, paved trail in the World. With over 400 miles of off road, multi use trails, the CRVST has the potential to draw thousands of bikers, snowmobilers, ATV’s, hikers, walkers, etc. to Central Minnesota from all over the World. They all will go through Little Falls, the hub city of this network. All of Central Minnesota will benefit greatly by enhancing their ability to draw tourism to their areas.

$3.2 Billion is spent by trail users in Minnesota per year! We will have the ability to attract some of those dollars to our area. The CRVST trail will attract large numbers of users because it will NOT be built on an abandoned railroad bed. It will become one of the most interesting, and fun to ride trails in the State of Minnesota!

I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the CRVST. The Committee is working on acquiring funds through the State Legislature to develop the trail. After state trail designation in 2008, many studies, and loads of CRVST Committee meetings the Legislator passed their bonding bill in 2014 that included $1,732,000 for the CRVST. The funding is for acquiring and constructing land. The DNR, with the direction of the CRVST committee, will start the first part of the trail south of Little Falls, on the west side of the Mississippi River.

The Camp Ripley/Veterans State Trail Committee, in conjunction with the Cuyuna Iron Range Riders and the Central Lakes ATV Club, will be hosting an “ATV RIDE” on Friday, October 7th starting at 1:30 PM. They will launch the ride from The Fort Steak House on Highway 371 at Fort Ripley, MN.

The CRVST Committee is also kicking off a "Red Letter Campaign" in October along with Royalton, Randall and Pierz. The "Red Letter Campaign" consists of a letter copied to red paper with a petition for people to sign in support of the CRVST. We are anticipating thousands of red letters signed by area residents that we can deliver to the City Council and the Legislator.

I believe our biggest obstacle in developing the trail is trying to educate our legislator and City Council about the importance of the trail for Central Minnesota, without their support the trail will not become a reality.

A CRVST Master Plan has been completed and now can be viewed on the DNR Website at www.drn.state.mn.us/input/mgmtplans/trails/campripleyveterans.html

Small section of trail in Little Falls that ends at the railroad tracks. In 2009, while I was on the Council, we approved the development of this small trail section to be paved along Haven Road. At that time, the Council also approved the bike lanes that go North and South in Little Falls.