After years of waiting and dashed hopes, Minnesota lawmakers are once again returning to the Legislature to try to get funding to outfit Lake Vermilion State Park with new campground and hiking facilities, the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook said he was optimistic that an allocation for the park will be included in the pending Senate DFL bonding bill. But, he said, the amount is still undetermined.
“All I can say is that there will be money in the Senate bonding bill, I just don’t know what the number is yet,” Bakk said.
The Department of Natural Resources requested $25 million, an amount that would fund a new campground as well as more remote backpacking and boat-in sites, camper cabins, a welcome and picnic area and new roads to connect the different regions of the park.
Though Bakk seemed assured that some amount of funding would be in the Senate’s bonding bill, he added that the DNR might not see the entire $25 million come to fruition this session.
“It will be some number less than that,” he said.
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