Bemidji State students mark Hobson Forest ski trails with new signage

Oct. 16, 2014 — A group of Bemidji State University students, led by Dr. Patrick Donnay, professor of political science, have improved cross-country ski trails at BSU’s Hobson Memorial Forest with new signage.

The project began to take shape in 2013 through a collaboration between BSU and the Bemidji Cross-Country Ski Club. Earlier this year, three BSU students under the direction of Dr. Jill Stackhouse, professor of geography, remapped the forest’s seven kilometers of trails using GPS. That work was the basis for improved trail maps featured on the new signs. A group of six BSU students and one student from Northwest Technical College worked with Donnay and ski club member Doug Williams on the installation.

“We’ve been at it for almost a year,” Donnay said of BSU’s work on the project.

Hobson Memorial Forest is the third cross-country ski trail system of the eight maintained by the Bemidji Cross-Country Ski Club to receive the upgraded signage. The club’s Movil Maze and Three Island Park trails have already received the new signs, and plans are in place to upgrade the club’s other five trails as well.

“The courses needed new signage,” said Donnay, who also serves as secretary of the ski club. “We’re using the partnership between BSU and the ski club to make it happen.”

Members of BSU’s Students for the Environment club helped with the installation.

“It’s an opportunity for our group to give back to the community and get out into the environment,” said club member Jordan Morgan, a junior environmental studies major from St. Peter, Minn.

Funding for the signs was provided by the Bemidji Cross-Country Ski Club, BSU’s Outdoor Program Center and the BSU Sustainability Office. The signs were designed by Samantha Nienow at Bemidji’s Red Zest Design and were manufactured locally by Meyer Signs.

About the C.V. Hobson Memorial Forest

Bemidji State University’s C.V. Hobson Memorial Forest was founded in 1948 to promote environmental awareness and enjoyment through research, education and recreation. The 240-acre forest contains Lynn Lake and includes mixed hard and soft woods, wetlands and wildflowers. The forest has an amphitheater, two rustic log cabins, a ropes course and over seven kilometers of walking and skiing trails.