Minot Parks Will Not Be Ready For Spring | Video

Hilary Zalla | 2/24/2012

Spring is right around the corner and usually that means people will soon be headed outside for a picnic in the park or to play on the playground. Unfortunately, this year people won`t have as much of that luxury. Around 500 acres of park land in Minot was damaged by flooding last summer and restoring it all will not be a walk in the park.

Horticulturist Steve Warton has been working for the Minot Park District for over 20 years. Seeing all his hard work sit and rot in water last summer was almost unbearable for him.

"It leaves a big whole in your heart. You wonder how on earth you`ll ever repair it," he said.

But, the shock has worn off and Warton and his colleagues are working hard to restore the hundreds of acres of park land and 50 plus buildings damaged by the flood.

"We`re going to need grass, seed, to replace plants, a lot of things."

The grounds and buildings will not be ready until the end of the summer, but the playground equipment at the parks should replaced by June.

"It’s not going to come over night and people will have to be patient and work with us."

Just to remove the silt left behind from the flood and to reseed the grounds, the park district is looking at a cost of over $1.2 million. It is still working with FEMA for damage assessments. As far as buildings go, some are already under repair.

"You take all that we have to deal with the zoo, rebuilding, and you can see we have taken a huge hit."

If you would like to volunteer or donate to the park district, you can go to their website at minotparks.com

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