Photo courtesy of Brooke Kor There were fallen trees everywhere at Garvin Park after severe storms hit southwest Minnesota on Memorial Day weekend. Cleaning up the campsites was a group effort, helped by seasonal park staff and volunteers like area Scouts and US Bank employees.

GARVIN — The severe storms that hit southwest Minnesota over Memorial Day weekend took a big toll on a Lyon County park. While fallen trees have been removed, there’s still lots of work to do at Garvin Park, said Brooke Kor of the county parks department.

“We had pretty extensive damage. A lot of our campgrounds had uprooted trees,” Kor said.

Kor said that cleanup efforts owe a lot to county seasonal workers and community volunteers.

“A big thank you is in order,” she said. Kor said thanks go out to area Scouts, volunteers from US Bank in Marshall, and volunteers Jeremy Trulock and Jim Reinert.

Campgrounds and trails at Garvin Park were both affected by the storms. Kor said you couldn’t go more than 20 feet without finding a fallen tree on trails. There were also washouts, especially on the horse trails, she said.

Seasonal park workers helped make cleanup possible, but community volunteers also played a big role. Even doing tasks like picking up fallen sticks helped clear the way for full-time workers to keep up with mowing and other regular park maintenance, Kor said.

Kor said it took about a week to get all the campgrounds at Garvin Park cleaned up. All the campgrounds are now open again. However, some trails and horse trails are still closed. The work on removing root balls from fallen trees, and other storm cleanup, will continue, Kor said.