{"id":4954,"date":"2009-09-09T12:11:53","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T18:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4954"},"modified":"2009-09-09T12:11:53","modified_gmt":"2009-09-09T18:11:53","slug":"st-croix-falls-a-sustainable-community-connected-by-trails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/st-croix-falls-a-sustainable-community-connected-by-trails\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Croix Falls: A Sustainable Community Connected by Trails"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Imagine that: <\/span>Walking through a network of trails from our Wissahickon Farms Country Inn, a rustic private cabin nestled in the woods, to grab dinner in town more than a mile away where the restaurant, Indian Creek Orchard Winery and Grille, features mostly local ingredients to prepare their Elk burgers and homemade sauces and soups. <\/span>We started our hike on the 98-mile Gandy Dancer State Recreational Trail which passes through an edge of the 30-acre Country Inn property, a property certified by Travel Green Wisconsin<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Given the bears in the area, my son and I had quite the adventure: he made a \u201cbear stick\u201d to defend ourselves on the rare chance we might encounter one. <\/span>After dinner, we wandered down to Overlook Park, featuring the River Spirit sculpture, before continuing along the riverfront on yet another trail to the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Visitors Center \u2013 spotting a bald eagle soaring overhead along the way.\u00a0 Ecopreneurial enterprises<\/a> filled up many of the storefronts we peaked into downtown. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Getting around town without touching a car is completely possible in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin<\/a>, rightfully earning its moniker, \u201cthe city of trails.\u201d <\/span>While some places aspire to be something they\u2019re clearly not, nor ever have been, St. Croix Falls is a place that features what they have in abundance: their network of walking, jogging, biking and hiking trails \u2013 and nature. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In St. Croix Falls\u2019 historic downtown area, you can park the car and spend the rest of the time on foot or bike as you discover a segment of the 1,000-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail or the more than 10 miles of hiking trails in the Interstate State Park. <\/span>Thanks to the spectacular St. Croix River, stunning coulees and \u201cdalles\u201d (ancient rock outcroppings), the community has emerged from its extractive history as a logging town and fur trading post to one of the premier places in the Midwest for the enjoyment of the outdoors, on foot, bike or in a kayak on the river.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The City of St. Croix Falls has provided both the inspiration and commitment to helping preserve the sense of place that has both attracted many to settle in the community of just over 2,000 and helped provide economic opportunity in a restoration economy<\/a> for those who\u2019ve always called the small town home. <\/span>The City of St. Croix Falls now owns and stewards about 1,000 acres of forestland, prairie, and other habitat. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The City of St. Croix Falls came to realize that preserving what we have, these beautiful bluffs and trails, is the most authentic expression of community,\u201d explains Ed Emerson, administrator of the City of St. Croix Falls. \u201cBy preserving our unique sense of place we also create an environment where people want to visit, so it becomes an effective marketing tool as well.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Additional parks in St. Croix Falls are owned and managed by the State of Wisconsin or federally protected and managed under the National Park System as the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (all 252 miles of it) thanks to the steadfast work by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota. <\/span>Even the Nature Conservancy has helped preserve 91 acres for recreation and conservation \u2013 within the city limits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To help fund the conservation and preservation work, the City of St. Croix Falls has a commercial space ordinance that requires a fee of $1 per square foot with the funds collected being utilized to purchase and preserve green space. With the 240,000 square foot Super Wal-Mart, the City of St. Croix Falls secured $240,000 that was used to leverage funds from other sources to create what is now a 750-acre contiguous preserve on the city\u2019s northern edge. These lands are home to black bear, coyote, deer and other fauna and flora. The City also requires \u201cbig box\u201d stores to pay an outdoor sculpture fee of $50,000. These funds were used for the River Spirit sculpture we enjoyed downtown.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe community advocated, rather professionally, that if we were going to allow big box stores, it would have to be in a manner that would enhance and preserve the character of the community,\u201d says Emerson. <\/span>\u201cWe implemented one of the strongest commercial space ordinances \u00a0in the nation, modeled after Boulder, Colorado. We went a step further so that all commercial space over 10,000 square feet is a conditional use. This empowers the community to negotiate from a position of strength. If big box stores want in, they have to meet certain standards. So far, it has successfully balanced business and preservation and has enabled us to be a rather dynamic community.\u201d<\/p>\n