Photo by Deb Gau Lyon County Commissioner Gary Crowley asked questions of Minnesota DNR representatives during Tuesday's county board meeting.

MARSHALL — Proposed changes in funding for the Shady Oaks ATV Trail in Russell sparked some discussion with Lyon County Commissioners this week.

Commissioners asked representatives of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources why proposed grant funding was being reduced, and why the DNR was attaching additional conditions to the award.

Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg said the DNR reviewed the grant-in-aid application for Shady Oaks for the coming year. Agenda materials at Tuesday’s county board meeting said the DNR was proposing a 63% reduction in the grant award for operations and maintenance at Shady Oaks, and that there were special conditions attached to the grant award.

“I’ve had a couple of meetings with folks from the DNR, regarding the Shady Oaks ATV Trail,” Stomberg said Tuesday.

He said the DNR was proposing to change its grant amount to $10,000. Of that total, $5,000 would be rent for the trail, and $5,000 would be for trail maintenance.

Copies of the grant conditions were included in the board agenda packet. The conditions would require the Southwest Ridgerunners snowmobile club, which acts as a sponsor for the ATV trail, to follow state policies regarding conflicts of interest, separation of powers, and competitive bidding. The sponsor would also need to appoint a trail administrator, provide more documentation of expenditures at the trail, and work with the DNR on trail monitoring. Shady Oaks would also need to follow the DNR’s approval process for adding new trails into the grant-in-aid.

“This trail has been running for eight years with no problems whatsoever,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley. “Why now, all of a sudden, do you want all these things looked at on the trail?”

Bill Greer, Area 4B supervisor with the DNR’s Parks and Trails division, said the proposal was part of a statewide program change, and not targeting Shady Oaks.

“We’re having to make some tough cuts across the state,” Greer said. Regarding the proposed grant conditions, he said, “A lot of the items on this (list) are being asked of other clubs throughout the state.”

Stomberg said the proposed grant amount reductions were “pretty substantial.” “I know that’s raised some concerns at keeping that trail viable,” he said.

“The cost of a trail . . . it’s a lot higher than what you’re willing to pay to continue with this trail,” Crowley said.

“This is a statewide thing. We are running up against this funding wall,” said Morgan Wendt, an off-highway vehicle acquisition and development specialist with the Parks and Trails division.

“We’re hoping to see increases into the program fund going forward, and then we can kind of get back to where we are again,” Greer said.

Greer said the DNR was also asking the Ridgerunners to be “a little bit more involved going forward,” and to provide a trail administrator in addition to Gary Thooft, who built and maintains the trail networks.

Commissioner Rick Anderson also said the state’s Office of Grant Management was now monitoring more closely how grants are run. “A lot of this is being generated by everything that happened at DHS, and every agency is getting looked at very specific,” he said.

Crowley said a large cut to grant funding for the Shady Oaks trails was “just not proper,” and he hoped a better solution could be come up with.

Greer said the DNR still wants to be part of the ATV trail, and to see it continue into the future.

“This is just kind of, unfortunately, where we’re at at the moment,” he said.