by Jeff Achen
Thisweek Newspapers

A young man came trouncing through Corinne Johnson's yard one afternoon while she was reading a book on her back porch.

"What are you doing?" she recalls asking.

"Where is it?" he said.

He was looking for a sturdy, yellow frisbee used in disc golf. Corinne helped him find the disk, but a few minutes later another young man came through their yard looking for his disk. She and her husband Richard told him he was trespassing, but he said he had a right to retrieve his disk and promptly showed the couple his middle finger.

It's a similar story along the row of houses near Alimagnet park in Apple Valley. Residents who'd had enough of the disrespect brought their complaints about the disc golf course before the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Sept. 19.

The disc golf course was established only 16 months ago, yet it is quickly drawing the attention of community members who are tired of the rude and sometimes criminal behavior or are concerned about the environmental damage they say the disc golf course has played a major role in.

When the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee approved the course in 2005, they estimated a daily usage of about two to five people per day. Residents put that number at over 1,000 people per week. Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee member Russ Defauw said the actual number is more likely around 350 to 500 people per week. Either way, it is clearly a popular recreation activity in the city.

MacGregor Grier, a disc golfer at the course, told City Council members he sees a lot of families using Alimagnet.

"It got me off the couch," he told Council members. "I'm really grateful the course was installed."

He also told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee that the sport has made the park more safe because there's more positive activity there. He would like to see it remain in the park.

But he and other disc golfers are largely opposed by residents.

"They need a frisbee golf park, they really do," Richard Johnson said. "They just need a better place for it."
Changes

Defauw said the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee voted to make a number of redesign changes in response to residents' concerns. They had two goals in mind; to lessen environmental damage and to reduce the impact on the neighbors.

"Realistically, human beings leave a footprint," he said. "We're trying to minimize that footprint."

But it is not the footprint many residents are worried about. It is the beer cans and foul language.

Nevertheless, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee voted 6 to 1 to keep disc golf at Alimagnet. Defauw said staff are going to work aggressively with the neighbors, disc golfers and police this fall and next spring to attempt to minimize the impact on neighbors.

City Council approved changes to the course at their Oct. 12 meeting. Changes include screening for trees being cut and damaged by discs and fencing to keep discs out of private property. They will extend the asphalt paths and tier areas of ground to stabilize the slopes and improve aesthetics. Parks staff will also relocate some of the tee boxes away from private property and seed areas to reestablish turf. Lastly, they have planned to review the course in September 2007.

Defauw said a second disc golf course would definitely be a reasonable consideration given its popularity.
Environmental concerns

Corinne Johnson said she would like to see the course moved to an entirely new location. A master gardener for Dakota County and member of the Apple Valley Garden Club, she is more concerned about damage to trees and the degradation of the park as a natural wooded area.

She contacted Dr. Karen Shragg, manager of the Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield, this summer and invited her to visit Alimagnet Park. She wanted Shragg's assessment of the park for use as a nature center.

Shragg was impressed with the area's potential and urged the city to consider the creation of a nature center in Alimagnet.

"Every community needs a nature center's services, but not every community is fortunate enough to have a park like Alimagnet in its midst," Shragg wrote in September.

Dr. Katharine Widin with Plant Health Associates, Inc. conducted a tree evaluation report in September 2006. She reported tree wounds, damage to native vegetation caused by people searching for discs, invasion of non-native plants such as burdock and buckthorn in areas where native plant coverage was destroyed and soil erosion around baskets, slopes and trails. All of this, she reports, will compromise the longevity of trees and shrubs in the park.

Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation also conducted an on-site review in July 2006, but only in areas around disc golf tees eight through 11. Its report states that Alimagnet Park is one of only two remnant natural communities remaining in Apple Valley and a "rare feature" in Dakota County.

Its technical opinion is that the impacts of disc golf are significant to the quality of the native oak forest and continued use for this activity would lead to "total loss of ground cover vegetation in impacted areas and greater degradation of this rare community."

Parks Maintenance Superintendent Tom Adamini said the disc golf issue puts him in a difficult position. He wants to provide a recreation activity that is in demand, but also meet the needs of the City and its residents. That said, he thinks he and his staff can improve the park.

"If you ask me ‘do I like the way it looks going through there as it is right now,' I'd say ‘no,'" Adamini said. "But I believe we've got the people on our staff to make Alimagnet more environmentally pleasing and more environmentally sound than anything out there."

Apple Valley Natural Resources Coordinator Jeff Kehrer said he thinks the erosion and soil compaction is similar to that of other parks with regular foot traffic. And though trees near tees are dented, Kehrer said he doesn't think it is a high risk for oak wilt infection.

Kehrer said staff will protect about 50 trees with snow fencing and believes the problems he saw could definitely be minimized.

In the meantime, Johnson said she and some neighbors have started a group called "Friends of Alimagnet." They aim to promote the creation of a nature center, help reconstruct the area by removing buckthorn and fundraising.

"Right now," she said, "no one's going to go down and walk here and enjoy the beautiful nature and that's really what this offers."

Jeff Achen can be reached at av.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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