Havre Trails talks progress, trail run

Havre Trails had their monthly meeting Monday at the Elks Club and spoke of progress made with the US Bank Park project and their April 25 Trail Run.

Lindsey Bennett, the president of the group, said that they have received many letters of support from the city, Montana State University-Northern, Boys Scouts of America and others.

Boy Scout Troop 1438 has also pledged 100 work hours to the project once it starts. MSU-Northern had been helping with the assessment of the trail and construction work plans, Bennett said. Havre High School industrial arts is building a trailhead kiosk and the Havre Board of Realtors is giving the group $500 for signage and benches and other groups in the area have pledged to promote and help in the project when it comes.

Bennett said that the application for the two-year, $20,000 grant has come together well and they will soon send off for it. She said they will know if they were successful in acquiring it by the beginning of July.

Other topics at the meeting included looking to Beaver Creek Park to possibly revitalize old trails and begin to push them into public knowledge.

Some of the concerns expressed were whether or not the trails still exist and if they now go through private lands. Members are planning to research and survey the state of these trails by finding out whose property they go through, if at all, and then contacting the owners to strike an agreement.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said that roughly 95 percent of the activity in the park happens in 5 percent of the land it has. He suggested that they focus on utilizing more of the land — moving away from the main drags, further out.

They also spoke of their plans for their April 25 Trail Run, the first of its kind from the group. The run/walk will take people from the Aviation Club field on one end of the Baltrusch Trail to the other. The run begins at 10 a.m. and shirts are being prepared for the event.