GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa, March 10, 2011 — Recreational trail development in Guthrie County received a major setback Thursday morning, March 10, when the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 against accepting an already-approved $365,000 grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation.  That was going to be used to begin planning, start property acquisition and development for a 17-mile trail across the northern part of the county.  The supervisors’ majority also made it clear they are not in favor of the trail being developed at all, and, if it is somehow is, then they will not accept ownership of it or pay for maintenance on it.

The vote negates an agreement a previous Board of Supervisors made in May 2009 to authorize fundraising for the possible trail.  They said then that they would accept ownership and maintenance responsibilities if it gets built.

Everett Grasty, a member of the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors, asks a question of trail advocate Rachel Garst (left) during the supervisors’ deliberations about a new rec trail project during their meeting on Monday, March 10. The supervisors at the table are (left to right) chairperson Jerry Caraher, Grasty, Cliff Carney, Tom Rutledge and Mike Dickson.

The proposed trail would connect with the existing Raccoon River Valley Trail in the tiny town of Herndon in northeast Guthrie County.  From there, it would run west through the towns of Bagley and Bayard, then on toward Whiterock Conservancy in the northwest corner of Guthrie County and the town of Coon Rapids, just across the line in Carroll County.   Mountain bike trails in the Whiterock Conservancy nature preserve connect to paved trails in Coon Rapids.  This 17-mile route is also part of the proposed American Discovery Trail, which is actually a network of trails stretching across the United States.

Residents of the Herndon, Bagley and Bayard areas were among 60 people attending an hour-long public hearing Thursday morning before the supervisors took their new vote on the trail matter.   All from those communities spoke in favor of the trail project, several describing how the development would be an economic lifeline to the struggling towns.

“This is one of the best things that could happen in Bayard,” said Mayor Gary Haverman.  “My gosh, if we get this trail we could have a lot of businesses that might want to come to Bayard.  It’d be a great thing for our future.”

Clayton Walters, vice-president of operations for the St. Gregory Retreat Center, which operates a drug and alcohol treatment center and a public get-away in Bayard, said “we see the trail as a big attraction for our guests.”  He said that “St. Gregory’s would be an active participant because as part of our program, we do community service — so we would volunteer to do trail inspection, pick-up trash and also do light maintenance.”

Alex Krueger, who farms along the proposed trail between Herndon and Bagley, noted he is “a Farm Bureau member, and Farm Bureau goes both ways on trails.”  He said he thinks this one is a good project that will benefit the area, and that it would inspire him to get the original Bagley Depot moved back to town as a trail center, and he would “eventually like to get the Herndon Depot built back on the same place it was — the foundation is still there.”  He told the supervisors “if you want to see what the new trail might be like, you need to walk the new trail between Dawson and Perry” on the Raccoon River Valley Trail.

A group of active snowmobilers who also use the recreational trails in the area spoke in favor of the proposed trail, saying it would be a link on an already-plotted Des Moines-to-Lake Okoboji snowmobile route.

Another speaker, Jack Smith, of Bayard, who is active in the Midwest Partnership Development Corporation, the four-county economic development agency, said he was “not here either for or against this trail. I’m here as a private citizen.  If you turn down this DOT grant that has already been approved, I’m concerned for the credibility of Guthrie County in future tourism and economic development projects.”

About a half-dozen men spoke as opponents to the trail project, contending the maintenance costs and legal liability that would come with ownership of the trail would be a drain on Guthrie County taxpayers.

Especially critical of it was Supervisor Mike Dickson, who lives in the Menlo area in the southern part of the county.  He disputed figures from an Iowa State University Extension economic impact study that says the trail would prompt signficant growth in tourism and business income in the communities on the new trail.  He also said he didn’t believe estimates of what eventual trail maintenance would cost, even though those were based on reports on several rec trails around the state.

Supervisors chairperson Jerry Caraher, who represents the area that includes Bayard and Bagley, voted in 2009 in favor of authorizing the trail project.  However, he said Thursday morning that he’s “changed my mind and I’ve been against this for quite a while.”  He then made the motion to notify the Iowa DOT that the county does not want the $365,000 grant and that the county is no longer interested in seeing the trail built.  Voting with him were Dickson and Cliff Carney.  Voting in favor of accepting the grant and continuing the trail project were Everett Grasty and Tom Rutledge.

Rachel Garst – trail advocate.

The board’s vote was a stunning rebuff of more than two years of volunteer work for the trail by Rachel Garst, a well-known Guthrie County resident who lives southeast of Coon Rapids and has been the chief advocate of the project.  She, her mother and sisters have made huge donations of property to create the 4,500-acre Whiterock Conservancy preserve and recreation area that is open to the public.  It is expected to become a major tourist destination that would be at the west end of the proposed trail.  Plus, more than seven miles of the 17-mile right-of-way for the proposed trail is owned by Shippers Consortium, an old partnership of Rachel’s father the late Steve Garst and his friend Roger Koppen.  Shippers Consortium is now overseen by Koppen, who also heads the huge Farmers Cooperative in west central Iowa.  He has pledged to donate the seven mile strip of land for the trail.

“I’m bringing you dollars,” Garst told the supervisors before the vote.  “This change of heart has come at a time when many other people and I have worked so hard to build a positive response to this trail” with Iowa’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., as well as with state officials and agencies.  “This 17-mile corridor plays a key role in all of the plans of the surrounding counties.  Because of that, the pressure to build this trail is only going to increase in the future.  If you agree to move ahead and not cancel this grant, I will continue to provide you free grant-writing services.  Please let me help you raise grant money for Guthrie County.”

Her composure broke briefly when she talked about her children complaining about how much time she’s taken away from the family to work on the trail project.

But after the vote, it didn’t take her long to re-set her resolve.  “This is not dead by a long shot,” she wrote in an afternoon email, “and neither am I!”

To read our story about the Guthrie supervisors’ vote in favor of the project in 2009, click here.