Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact South Fowl ...

Figure 7. Photo showing Tilbury Trail, after a year of no use, trees are falling and brush
is encroaching.
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
This has been an extremely interesting project in terms of public involvement. I can
confidently say there is interest by the public. Early on, when the trail was brought to
my attention, I discussed options with members of the Cook County Board of
Commissioners. As I gathered more information, I also discussed options with local
officers of the Grand Portage State Forest in Grand Marais and Two Harbors. Since I
had taken action to close the Tilbury Trail, my activities to look for another route had the
interest of the local landowners around McFarland Lake. Therefore, I chose to begin the
public involvement process during open meetings of the Cook County Board of
Commissioners. Agendas for these meetings were published ahead of time; they were
open to the public, had some structure to them, allowed focused discussion on the topic
and helped me gain some perspective on public issues.
During this time, I had our engineering technician who has decades of experience
locating and constructing roads and trails, searching for possible routes. When I was
comfortable I had sufficient field information and a reasonable picture of the public
issues, I assembled an interdisciplinary team and we put a set of alternatives together.
This is somewhat different than the typical process used by the Forest Service. Normally
we would develop a proposed action based on a need and then scope for public issues.
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