Please note: I generally refuse to link to the StarTribune due to their recent use of a paywall but it provides the best summary of the changes to Lebanon Hills. For this I apologize in advance.
According to this article which recently appeared in the StarTribune, Dakota County’s Lebanon Hills recently underwent some cosmetic changes in and around the visitors center located at Schulze Lake in Eagan. While this 1.3 million dollar upgrade is seen as wonderful, some may wonder if these upgrades are doing more harm than good.
From the article:
Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan has reopened its visitor center with some changes: a paved sidewalk looping through the campus, a parking lot with improved lighting and accessibility, rain gardens, and a safer sledding hill and natural amphitheater.
[...]
In a section winding into the oak savanna next to Schulze Lake, lights snap on at dusk, which extends trail use during dark winter months. “We have seen people using it late afternoon and early evening, which is great,” said Beth Landahl, Dakota County Parks manager of operations and education.
Many people regularly visit Lebanon Hills at all times of the year and due to its being centrally located in one of the South Metro’s most populated cities it’s incredibly popular and one of the largest and truly open and wilderness-like locations in the city. However some visitors note how the changes, while certainly welcome to a few, maybe be limiting the exposure of metro-based individuals to truly wild areas:
“I’m sure this will be nice,” said Lacey Burres of Inver Grove Heights, who frequents Lebanon Hills with her family to snowshoe or hike. “I liked it a little more wild.”
In a similar vein to the quote which appeared in the StarTribune article, one first time Lebanon Hills visitor who spoke with Lazy Lightning noted, “I didn’t think of it as being the same area, since all the trees were cut down. and I preferred the natural paths to the concrete.” While the majority of Lebanon Hills is still quite natural, one may wonder just how many people realize there is more to the park than the disconnected visitors center area which, at one time, was just as beautiful as the rest of the park prior to the changes made in the last few years.
Do you like the changes that were made to Lebanon Hills? Do you find yourself requiring lighted and/or paved trails to hike in local parks? Do you worry about the future of our parks when so much emphasis is placed on entirely removing natural settings to increase accessibility instead of letting those changes blend better into the surrounding area? Whatever you have to say about the changes made to the area around Lebanon Hills’ Visitors Center go ahead and comment on!
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January 4th, 2012 at 8:01 am
I’ve never been to Lebanon hills either before or after these changes, but these sound like all the sort of improvements that I usually find appropriate for parks in urban areas.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:15 am
I agree with Reuben. I don’t know that you need to expect “The Wild” when you are in Eagan. The closest you are going to get is probably running into one of the players from The Wild who happen to live in Eagan.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:17 am
lefty, have you been more than 15 feet into the woods in Lebanon Hills? Clearly you have not.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:29 am
I’ve been to this part of Lebanon Hills park once and definitely thought the parking situation left something to be desired. There are so many things to do in this entire park from skiing, hiking, canoeing etc. that I am happy to live in Dakota County and be able to use this asset.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:41 am
Bill,
Can you ask a question without predisposing the answer? Clearly we both can. In this case, both of us are correct.
Actually, I can backtrack a bit. If you were to stand in my front yard, you would think that I live in a typical suburban neighborhood. Go to my back yard and you will see nothing but woodlands. We get about every measure of wildlife that exists in Eagan with all the conveniences of living in a suburb close to the bigger city. It is why I will probably always want to live in Eagan.
I am just saying that one should not expect a suburban park to give off the impression of “being in the wild” as the property matures and more people become exposed to it, sort of like the way the St. Croix River used to be a leisurely place to go for a quiet boat ride on the weekend when I was growing up and it is now a beer soaked stink hole.
If making upgrades takes away from some of that but allows more people to enjoy it, that that is just how things go. Not saying that is a good thing for the purists or whatever, but that is how things go.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:58 am
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
thank you joni.
bb
January 4th, 2012 at 9:02 am
1. I suppose that goes directly against Dakota County Park’s motto of “Forever Wild”.
2. The City of Eagan’s own parks district has 54 pieces of property (which amount to a little over 1/2 the total acreage of LH) which are plenty not wild and provide the amenities recently added to LH. These parks have paved trails, lit up fields and lots of parking. In fact, within two miles of Lebanon Hills there are plenty of parks and even the paved Highline Trail spanning quite some distance which should have been lit up instead of Lebanon Hills.
—
I have been in each and every single park in Dakota County multiple times (this obviously includes all of Eagan’s own parks as well as the County’s). I know how crappy playlots and city parks look when deforested to add these amenities. If the City of Eagan wasn’t providing 54 of them then I’d be all gung-ho for the County to step up. However, we’re being double taxed to provide what already exists in plenty of other places in our towns.
These extras are unnecessary and instead perhaps they should spend $200 and put up a sign that says, “hey, if you want to push your stroller down a trail, here’s how you get to the nearest Highline Trail access point.” Or, if more parking and lit up fields is what you want, “here’s how to drive the 2.8 miles to Goat Hill Park.”
January 4th, 2012 at 9:25 am
I think there is a natural progression of urban development that results in land that was previously “wild” being transformed into space that is more urban in design. Doing this, displaces things like wild animals, and it tears down trees to make way for development. This is a good thing for all of us.
Many of the problems that face urban areas (from a planning perspective) including traffic congestion, automobile dependency, sprawl, etc. are, in part, the result of our attempts to build cities that don’t actually displace wildlife. We can build cities that attempt to integrate the wild and the urban at the same time, and we end up with spaces that look a lot like some of our suburbs. And it makes us feel good because occasionally a deer will wander through our backyards and we get to feel like we haven’t displaced the wild. Some will even call this “sustainable development” and celebrate “coexisting” with nature.
But the truth is that we’ve just developed spaces that are neither wild nor urban, where deer don’t know what the hell to do and end up being “harvested” by the local municipal forester because the lady down the street doesn’t want them eating her flowers or something.
We should, certainly, preserve wild areas from development before there is none left, but the appropriate place to do this is not in the middle of the metro area.
Like I said, I’ve never been to this park before, so I don’t know much about these specific changes, but I’m sure we agree that each park needs to find an appropriate balance between being developed and remaining in a completely natural state.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:00 am
I have been to Lebanon Hills before, but not since the upgrades. It’s really hard to argue against accessibility upgrades because they do make the resources available to the largest amount of people. Sure, I am a big fan of dirt/aggregate paths through the parks/forests conveniently located and find them a lot easier to run/hike on, but as time goes on “accessibility” will prevail with many paths and trails turning from dirt into pavement and boardwalks. As exciting? No. Takes away from the “Wild” feeling in the parks? Yes. The real problem for me that shines through is the amazing costs of doing these upgrades when many municipalities are broke and are increasing taxes just to fend off bankruptcy.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:05 am
I don’t even know what to make of this. I don’t really think of Lebanon Hills as a “natural place”. Sure, I share Bill’s desire for unspoiled places, but I think that water went under the bridge ages ago. Nothing says solitude like a steady parade of 737s coming and going 1,000 feet overhead.
At the same time, I think, “when are we going to leave well enough alone?” Do we really need to upgrade the parking lot from “adequate” to “state of the art” AT A PARK? (Nothing personal dsw).
It comes down to this for me: 1.3 million dollars feels excessive especially given that it a) does little to preserve the space and b) does little to attract more people to the park. It seems to be another case where it’s 25% sensible, and 75% “nice to have” spending by government.
p.s. – Bill, you are right on. That “Forever Wild” tag line is laughable. When I bike along Interstate 494 and Highway 13, that logo/tag line is spraypainted on the concrete, chain link fenced path.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:11 am
I think the proposed pipeline that may run through the park, if that happens, is going to be far more disruptive than the changes they’ve made around the parking lot/interpretive center.
The areas they changed were not particularly wild to begin with; if they had run a paved path right across the park or something like that, I’d have more issue with it (sort of like the new path at Spring Lake). I think they are striking a good balance.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:20 am
Tim,
Government always moves very slowly and does incremental changes over time. They do this not only because of the limitations inherent in the bureaucracy but because of calculated moves to not radically upset the citizenry.
They know that those radical changes, like the pipeline, are going to raise the hackles of government members, taxpayers, and even people internally. However, by slowly encroaching on the natural landscape over time with a little paved trail here and an expensive and flashy interpretive center here, people will adjust and say, “oh but granny can shuffle along a couple of feet after we spent more money to ‘brush’ the trail!”
It’s hard to envision, even with colorful drawings and 20 year plans, the changes made to our natural environment during one hour strategic planning meetings spaced out over 5-10 years. They know this but the general public does not. We need to keep them to their motto or change it. If they don’t want to be “forever wild” anymore they should update themselves to live in the realities they’ve created in 2012 by admitting they’re, “Forever Paving” instead.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Bill, you should have put comment #7 in your original post.
I guess I agree with MSPD. If the parking lot maintenance costs were getting out of hand then at some point it probably makes sense to make the investment to improve it and therefore reduce the total longterm costs. However, as typically happens, way more money was likely spent then necessary.
I don’t think of Lebanon Hills as a “natural place” either but around here it’s as close as you’re going to get so these types of changes do make me cringe a bit. I really don’t think that Lebanon Hills needs a music series.
January 4th, 2012 at 10:34 am
jf,
For more than a year (maybe even two) I’ve been trying to post less of my actual comments in posts that aren’t meant for opinion (restaurant reviews obviously are all opinion) and leave it to the slanted facts.
The comment section is a good place for that sort of discussion and that’s where I leave it. It seems to be better appreciated by those who are the silent majority.
January 4th, 2012 at 11:10 am
Just an FYI on the new Strib policy: If your browser allows you to open a new incognito window by right-clicking on a link, you can easily open as many Strib articles as you wish with no monthly limit. I use Chrome and it works great for this.
January 4th, 2012 at 11:42 am
I’ve been meaning to head over to that part of the park, but have yet to do so. Thanks for the post; it gives me another reason to make the trip.
It’s odd that the Star-Tribune article said the park was closed for 3 months. No, it wasn’t. THAT ENTRANCE to the park was closed, but the park was not. Far from it. There are three parcels of land in the park; all that was closed was one entrance to one parcel.
Yeah, it might be nice to keep some parts of the park “wild,” but bureaucrats will want to garner public support for the programs they oversee, and I suspect the “paved or nonpaved” question, if put to the public, will weigh in with “paved.” Call it part of the domestication of America.
January 4th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
If you ask the public if they would like the County to buy them a Lexus or not buy them a Lexus, I suspect they will weigh in with “Lexus”. Call it part of the manipulation of America by the pollsters.
People need to understand that spending based on “ideal” versus sustainable is killing the country. Where do we draw the line on this stuff?? “Wayfinding” signs, ornamental lighting of “nature” trails, replacing an adequate parking lot with a perfect one…when is enough enough?
January 4th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
To MSPD’s point: Striving for the ideal is nice and a popular motivation for many, but in these times of financial struggles any government entity that funds the ideal is foolhardy at best, just plain stupid in most cases.
(New Years Resolution in effect, even agreeing with MSPD. But there’s that “wayfinding” sign thing again… it ain’t easy keeping New Years Resolutions! ;-))
January 4th, 2012 at 11:59 pm
Another trick to get around the Strib’s website thingy. Once you open an article, let it load and click the stop button repeatedly for a couple seconds and you won’t get the redirect. Works fine for me in IE8.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Did the Star Tribune quit with their stupid 25 article per month policy already?
I was banned last week and now I can go anywhere. They must have noticed that everyone who got kicked off most likely a) didn’t buy and b) went directly to the Pioneer Press webpage.