The Bottineau City Park District recently completed the fourth and final phase of a hiking/biking and nature trail system in Forestry Park.   The completed trail is a 1½ mile path with an eight-foot-wide concrete surface along with a 30’ boardwalk through a wetland area.  The original goal was to provide local residents with a recreational trail while preserving the natural habitat that currently exists.  Wold Engineering has provided the Park Board with technical assistance in the project’s development, design and in securing matching funding resources.

The trail project was completed in phases, with the first phase in 2014, which was a connection to the City’s existing multi-use trail system.  Through the trail’s development the Park District has utilized local funds that have been matched by two grants from the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department.  For this final phase, a local contractor, PCS, Inc., was utilized to complete the concrete work, which was completed on time and within budget. Forestry Park is 45 acres mixture of prairie and woodland that is under a long-term lease to the Bottineau Park District from the North Dakota Forest Service.  In the past parts of the property were used by the Forest Service as an arboretum and as a tree nursery.  Since the start of the lease in 1999, the Park District has put in place a children’s playground, picnic shelters, and a disc golf course.  Today residents can still have memorial trees planted in the park.