The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the St. Louis County Land Department will co-host an open house to discuss management of forest roads and trails on state and county forest lands in the Sturgeon River State Forest. The open house will be held on Tuesday, June 27, 2006, from 5:00-7:30 pm at Ironworld near Chisholm.

A local DNR field team and staff from the St. Louis County Land Department have developed a map of roads and trails proposed to be open and closed to motor vehicles (cars, trucks and off highway vehicles). The team has also recommended the forest designation remain classified as managed, which means forest roads and trails are open to motor vehicle use unless posted closed.

The open house is one component of a public input process. The public comments received during this stage of the process will be collected for consideration in the field team's designation recommendation. Another public meeting will be held later this year prior to the formal designation of the forest.

There will be several stations at the open house. People may stop by any time between 5:00 and 7:30 pm to review maps of inventoried access routes within the forest and make recommendations or comments on forest-wide issues and individual trail segments. Preliminary maps are available on the DNR website at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/
mgmtplans/ohv/designation/status.html.

The open house will be held at Ironworld Mineland Reclamation Classroom, Hwy 169, Chisholm, MN on June 27.

For more information about the forest designation process or the open house, call the Tower Area DNR Trails and Waterways Office at 218-753-2580 ext. 252.