GRINDON, Minn. — Buffalo River State Park's swimming ponds will remain closed this summer and likely to remain closed for the foreseeable future as infrastructure damage makes them unusable.
The swimming pond in the park near Glyndon has been closed during the summer for the past five years. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has cited a variety of reasons for the closures over the years, including a lack of lifeguards and COVID-19 restrictions.
Park Director Brian Nelson said that while the pond is closed, the pond's already aging filtration infrastructure has been damaged and the choice is between repairing it or pursuing other recreational opportunities within the park. said that it was left behind.
“We're just trying to figure out what the best way forward is,” he said. “Are we looking to replace something or are we going to go in a different direction, especially since we've had a hard time retaining security guards over the last few years?”
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
In the past, Buffalo River State Park's swimming ponds were filled with filtered and treated Buffalo River water in early summer.
It last opened in 2018, the year a 9-year-old Moorhead girl drowned there during a trip to the park for a Moorhead Police Department youth program. The following summer, 2019, the pool did not open as the DNR struggled to hire enough lifeguards.
The swimming pond did not open from 2020 to 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions, Nelson said. Meanwhile, an ice jam damaged the pond intake pipe that draws water from the Buffalo River to the filtration building. The filtration buildings are unheated and uninsulated in the winter, which puts strain on the plumbing, he said.
Mr Nelson said it would take “a significant amount of money” to get the swimming pond back up and running.
“I don't know the actual numbers, but all I know is that you have to replace the intake pipe, and if you have to replace plumbing parts, valves, etc., everything costs money,” he said. Ta.
DNR develops management plans that guide facility development and resource management for all Minnesota state parks. Parks and Trails staff will develop the plan in a public process that gathers input from the public and other stakeholders.
Nelson hopes to see updated plans for the park before repairs are made to the swimming pond infrastructure. The last park plan he completed in 1979.
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
Although swimming ponds have historically drawn tourists to the park, people continue to visit Buffalo River State Park for other activities. The park has a drive-in campground and hiking trails through the prairie. The Buffalo River flows through the center of the park, and people gather along the river for fishing and bird watching.
“Now it seems like people are just going out and doing different things in the park, but our numbers are about the same,” Nelson said.
