2025 News & Updates Archive

Below is a message from GMPT Chair Gina Hugo. You can reach her at gina.hugo@co.sherburne.mn.us.

Hello Greater MN Parks & Trails!

We sincerely hope that this issue of our newsletter finds you and your families (at work and in life) well and geared up for whatever winter opportunities come. As we near the close of the year—which comes faster each time—please pause and feel good about the work you have done: the challenges navigated, the lessons learned, and the goals achieved. A goal achieved by the GMPT Board and Committee Members has been improving your membership experience by making renewals and registrations more accessible and streamlined. We are excited to roll out an online platform that will enable you to renew your membership, register for meetings and events, and pay with a credit card. This change is based on member feedback and has been in the works for quite some time. It has certainly been a topic of our conversations over the last four years. 

This means that the renewal process is looking different leading into 2026. Be sure to watch your email for the notice in the coming weeks. The other successes achieved by your GMPT organization are the direct result of our Legislative Advocacy, which is made possible by memberships and voluntary contributions. So, when you renew your membership, please consider making a voluntary legislative assessment! We realize not all member agencies are able to do so, but agencies that have the capacity are encouraged to do so for the benefit of the greater vision of park and trail policy and funding for our amazing collection of facilities.

GMPT has other significant changes coming its way, as we will see a changing of the guard at the end of 2025.

We wish to extend a huge “THANK YOU” to Tom Salkowski for his long-time service as GMPT Treasurer over the last 11 years. Tom has been retired from his career in Planning and Zoning for just as long, so he will finally enjoy FULL retirement—we are so happy for him! Now he can fully dedicate his time to family, fishing, and freedom! Tom, thank you for your integrity, attention to detail, mentorship, humor, and witty realism. Your contributions serving on the Board, as Treasurer, and as a colleague will leave a big hole, and we will miss you.

We are also saying farewell to Board Member Ben Anderson, who will be stepping down from the Board at the end of the year, and we want to express our gratitude for his contributions over the last 4 terms. Most of Ben’s tenure was served in leadership roles as Vice Chair, then Chair, then Past Chair. Ben’s thoughtful, quiet style fostered a high level of comfort during Board discussions, and his perspectives, professionalism, and experience will be missed. We recognize that this move will allow Ben to enjoy other professional opportunities, where he will certainly continue to contribute to the “Great” in Greater MN Parks and Trails! Thank you, Ben!!!

With all that being said, and as we roll into December, we have some great topics for your benefit in this issue! Please read on to learn GMRPTC Legacy Funding Project Recommendations and Grant Opportunities.

Happy Holidays!

Below is a contribution from GMPT Business Member HKGi. For more information, please visit hkgi.com.

Designing and Building an Award-Winning Nature Play Area for Grams Regional Park Zimmerman, Sherburne County, Minnesota
Grams Regional Park in Zimmerman, part of Sherburne County’s parks and recreation system, is home to a new nature play area that offers kids of all abilities the chance to “burrow” underground, climb a timber tower, or set off on an adventure to build a fort.

Nestled within a woodland between two restored prairies, the play area also gives kids plenty of space to experience the thrill of being outdoors. Since its grand opening in July 2024, this nature play area has proven popular, and in 2025, it received a Merit Award for General Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)’s Minnesota Chapter.

The Design Process
In 2019, when Sherburne County Parks and Public Works staff realized that the park’s traditional playground was nearing the end of its useful life, they retained Minnesota-based landscape architecture firm HKGi to plan for a new play area. HKGi worked with County staff to facilitate a visioning process to identify desired features for a new nature-themed playscape. HKGi collected input from over 200 stakeholders, whose comments were critical in shaping a concept plan that emphasized the need to welcome children of mixed ages and abilities. Using this feedback, HKGi created a design concept featuring a mixture of custom-designed and factory-manufactured play elements that would make nature-based play accessible and exciting for ALL children, including those with mobility limitations and sensory-processing disorders.

Leveraging this accessible play design concept, HKGi and County staff prepared a successful MnDNR Outdoor Recreation grant application and launched the next phase of the design process, which again offered stakeholders the chance to have a voice in identifying program elements for the new play area. Engagement included an on-site activity that gave families a chance to visit the park, build forts, and nest inside a willow hut prototype!

The Design Details
Final designs organized the play area into five distinct zones:

• An Active Nature Playground featuring timber play equipment, a 16-foot-long “burrow” tunnel that accommodates wheelchairs and bikes, a basket swing and wobble boards, and two local-artist-woven willow huts.
• A Kinesthetic Loop Trail traversing restored prairie and woodland and featuring an ADA-accessible travel lane; a plank path and banked turn and rollers; and 6-10 foot tall climbing stilts constructed from salvaged local white oak and custom stenciled to look like birch trees.
• A Free-form Nature Play Area featuring a wheelchair-accessible craft table and “building materials” such as branches, tree cookies, and pinecones set beneath a majestic basswood tree.
• An Open Picnic Area lined with native serviceberry trees offering views of the rolling prairie complements a new picnic shelter at the opposite end of the play area.
• A Contemplative Gathering Space at the terminus of the new Storywalk Trail, which winds its way from the new parking lot through the play areas and picnic grounds to a quiet circle of stones beneath a cluster of oaks.

Cost Saving Design Strategies
HKGi worked with County staff to determine what could be custom-built “in-house” to realize cost savings and leverage the skills of public works and parks staff. Custom-designing some of the play elements also allowed the use of locally-harvested and sourced materials, creating a closer tie between the play area and the park’s landscape. HKGi also bid the project in two packages to streamline procurement of the mixture of factory-made play equipment and custom-designed elements. These strategies, plus diligent project management and construction administration by both Sherburne County and HKGi staff, enabled these improvements to be built within a relatively tight budget. The result is a uniquely innovative nature play area that offers opportunities for play and interaction with the natural world for children of all abilities.