planning process will be discussed at the February 16 CAC meeting at Jones
Harrison Residence (near Cedar Lake) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The public is
invited to attend and speak.
This project description highlights the environmental costs of increased usage
of these parklands, and especially concerns about water quality:
https://www.minneapolisparks.org/park_care__improvements/park_projects/current_projects/calhoun-harriet_master_plan__improvements/#group_3_244639
The master plan is intended to guide future development around these lakes. A
major challenge is to balance MPRB's desire to facilitate growing recreational
demands while addressing complex environmental concerns and ecological costs of
more development.
As we've seen in recent years, changes in climate are expected to cause more
flooding, loss of trees, and extensive damage to parks, and MPRB's limited
budget will require tough decisions about priorities (as we've already seen
with the issue of millions of dollars of deferred maintenance in neighborhood
parks). Even though the Met Council provides funding for "improvements" to
regional parks like the Chain of Lakes, Minneapolis residents must live with
the consequences and the environmental costs and losses due to development.
To some, the draft recommendations reflect a bias toward increased recreation
vs. increased environmental stabilization/protection. Although the general
recommendations include "Maintain and improve water quality," the 63 specific
recommendations read like a laundry list of recreational developments that will
not maintain and improve water quality, with a few references to improved
drainage, and even those few nods to the environment are intended to expand the
spaces available for human use.
Some observers wonder if it's unrealistic and short-sighted to invest in even
more playspaces for humans around the lakes at the expense of the environment
and urban wildlife. The Park Board describes the problem as people "loving the
lakes to death." At what point do we accept limits on how much "fun" these
natural resources can deliver before ecologically collapsing under the weight
of our collective demands?