National Park Service + NDSU Landscape Architecture Program Students in Ortonville!
Dr. Yang Song’s NDSU Landscape Architecture Program students along with Brian Leaders of the National Park Service were in Ortonville on Monday (February 12th) presenting the work they’ve done so far to the Ortonville Park Board along with providing an overview of what they found as they toured the community earlier in the day (splitting the group in half and hitting two of our local eateries for lunch!)
The students have been reviewing the work that was completed by SDSU (see presentation video below) 2016/17 and laying the foundation for their work by utilizing the Big Stone County GIS mapping data (thanks to Terry Ocana and Darren Wilke of the County for facilitating that ability!)… the students then followed that up with a visit to Ortonville and direct discussions with Ortonville Park Board members along with a few community members. Becky Parker (Ortonville EDA President) commented on what an opportunity it was to have such a diverse group of students evaluating the parks in Ortonville – from Bismark, Madison, Russia, Peru, Buffalo, Fargo, St. Paul++ – providing their perspectives on what they saw in Ortonville and how to connect with the community needs and the work done previously.
Brief history: The Ortonville City Council, the Ortonville Planning Comission and the Ortonville Park Board had all voted unanimously to support the City’s application for assistance through the National Park System’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. The process is intended to guide the long range and comprehensive decision-making process for the creation of a Parks Plan for the City of Ortonville.
Look for more updates on this project in the near future!