Moorhead leaders and representatives of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission cut the ribbon to open the Midtown Trail Monday. (Photos/Caleb Fugleberg)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Hikers and bikers can follow the river all the way from Oakport to Bluestem now, thanks to completion of the next-to-last gap in Moorhead’s envisioned 18-mile River Corridor Trail.

City leaders joined with representatives of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission at Woodlawn Park Monday to cut the ribbon officially opening the last in-town segment. The Midtown Trail segment connects the Downtown Trail, starting at 12th Avenue North and winding past the Hjemkomst Center and Crystal Sugar, to the Blue Goose (from Gooseberry Mound to Bluestem). The 1.28-mile segment was completed this summer runs along the river and flood levee for a little less than a mile, along with about half a mile on a marked lane along city streets.

Later that afternoon, the group of officials moved north to M.B. Johnson Park, where they cut a second ribbon to open a new concrete boat ramp and dock. It replaces the old graveled access to the Red River.

Planning director Kristie Leshovsky pointed out that the trail now connects two of Moorhead’s parks with pedestrian bridges across the Red. “It allows residents to ribbon back and forth between Fargo and Moorhead,” she said. It also allows direct access to Fargo’s Dike East Skate Board Park.

The lengthy trail along the east side of the river began 10 years as Moorhead evaluated its options in the wake of the 2009 Red River flood and its aftermath. The Metropolitan Council of Governments initiated discussions about management of the river corridor with an eye to balancing community needs, flood mitigation, transportation, recreation, public and private property, and preserving the natural environment.

The plan nearing culmination today was endorsed by Mayor Del Rae Williams and the city council in May 2014. Since then, city planner Kristie Leshovsky and parks director Holly Heitkamp and their staffs have been hunting down grant and public support to complete the trail and the amenities that surround it. Audubon’s Urban Woods and Prairie Initiative, FM Trail Builders and River Keepers have been actively involved, too, not only in building and maintaining the trails but in restoring the natural areas around them.

Over the years, funding has been secured from Minnesota’s Legacy Fund and Department of Transportation to build sections of the trail. Moorhead has received almost $3 million from the state’s Legacy Fund over the years. The funds – some requiring local matches – have underwritten development of trails and other facilities at MB Johnson Park from 2015 to 2017; realigned and rehabbed the Downtown Trail and built the Homestead Trail in 2020; and, finally, funded the Midtown Trail. Costs of the Blue Goose segment were covered by a grant from MnDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Program.

All that remains to complete the original River Corridor Plan is the southernmost segment dubbed the Harvest Trail. According to parks director Holly Heitkamp, that 2-mile stretch awaits further development between Bluestem and 60th Avenue South. In the meantime, both Fargo and Moorhead are seeking funding for a pedestrian bridge to connect south Fargo to the Bluestem Center for the Arts.

Other trails and bike-pedestrian bridges connect to the corridor route. “The whole trail has regional impact,” Heitkamp observes. Not only is it part of the 187-mile Minnesota Bike Route 20 and, potentially, the Heartland Trail; it connects Moorhead with its neighbor across the Red, increasing not only recreation in the community but also transportation within and between the metropolitan area.

“Work on the trail system started as land became available due to flood buy-outs,” Leshovsky explains. “Having this land become available for recreational purposes opene3d up a huge opportunity for Moorhead to develop the greenway along the Red River – something that affects residents of all ages and all cultures throughout the whole region.”

For more information on the entire trail, go to www.cityofmoorhead.com/about-the-city/river-corridor