New double-wide boat ramp, other improvements on tap for LaFave Park in East Grand Forks

Apr. 27—It's been a long time coming, but a new boat ramp on the Minnesota side of the Red River is on the horizon for LaFave Park in East Grand Forks.

Plans are in place, funding is in place and permits should be issued within the next couple of weeks, said Jeremy King, superintendent of the East Grand Forks Parks and Recreation Department.

Work on the project is set to begin Aug. 1, King said. That will allow construction to proceed without interfering with summer events such as the

Cats Incredible Catfish Tournament,

set for July 26-27, or the

Red River Valley Catfish League,

which wraps up for the season July 31.

RJ Zavoral and Sons Inc. of East Grand Forks is the contractor for the project.

According to King, the new boat ramp will include a double-wide access with a floating dock between lanes, a kayak launch and parking for about 30 vehicle-and-boat-trailer rigs, along with overflow parking for another 30 rigs or so.

The parking lot will be Class 5 gravel — typically a mix of rock, sand and clay — atop "bio-roll" fiber material and could serve as the base for asphalt covering in the future, King said, should funding become available.

The existing boat ramp, a single-wide access that dates back to the mid-'80s, is crumbling and in "desperate need of facelift," King said.

"It's going to be nice," he said. "The LaFave Park boat ramp has been talked about in every strategic plan for probably the last 25 years, and it's just one of those things that wasn't high enough priority.

"Everyone knew it needed to get done, and now it's finally going to happen. It's very exciting."

LaFave Park covers 45 acres

at the confluence of the Red and Red Lake rivers. Besides fishing and boating access, park amenities include trails, softball fields and a football field.

The new boat ramp is just one component of the LaFave Park project. Also in the works is a mill-and-overlay project to improve streets throughout the ballfield areas of the park, an improved access road to the boat ramp, a new park shelter, an ADA-accessible shore fishing spot and connection to the Greenway from the upper and lower parts of the park. Shoreline restoration and stormwater runoff improvements also are on tap.

Funding for the LaFave Park project comes from two grants totaling $1.758 million the city of East Grand Forks received from the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, King said, and $400,000 in matching funds from the city.

Reid Huttunen, who now is East Grand Forks city administrator, wrote the grants while he was Parks and Trails superintendent and worked with planners from Widseth, the architectural and engineering firm with an office in East Grand Forks, on designing the project. Huttunen was hired as city administrator in July 2023, and King has overseen the Parks and Recreation Department since last August.

"I'm coming up to speed on the project myself, because a lot of this was already done before I got here," he said.

Construction is expected to take about a month, King said, a timeline that shouldn't have a big impact on recreational activities within the park.

"Most of the recreation should be done for the summer," he said. "We'll get everything fixed up, and by next spring, it will be all new facilities."

The original project design called for building the new boat ramp about 100 feet south of the existing access, which would have allowed construction to proceed without impact to boaters or anglers. That hit a snag a few weeks ago, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ruled the proposed new site fell within a delineated wetland. That would have required the city to purchase wetland credits in addition to a different permit than the permit required for keeping the new ramp at the existing site, King said.

"There's a difference between the two permits," he said. "One permit where we don't need wetland credits and one permit where we do."

The permit requiring wetland credits can take 120 days or more, he said, as opposed to a couple of weeks for the general permit. In that context, keeping the new ramp at the present site was the more prudent option.

Despite the change, the impact on the overall project will be minimal, King said. The current three-tier floating dock, which is just north of the existing boat ramp, will stay in that location instead of moving to the south side of the new ramp, he said, and the kayak launch will be north of the dock to avoid the delineated wetland issue.

"It will still work well," King said. "All of the changes were pretty minor."

Local catfish guide Brad Durick and Bruce Nelson, both organizers of the Red River Valley Catfish League, shared their input on the project, King said, and provided "a ton of good insight."

King said he expects the floating dock that's planned between the two lanes of the new boat ramp will be especially popular among boaters and anglers.

"Two boats will be able to launch at the same time and have dock space," he said. "You'll be out of the current at that point, so ideally, especially if you're fishing by yourself, you'll be able to pull up, tie your boat off, back your truck in, load your boat right on and away you go.

"I imagine the dock we have down there now isn't going to be getting near the use that it has been except for tournament use and (catfish) league use. On a regular day, I just don't think it will be getting the use that we've seen."

The LaFave Park project comes at a time of increasing recreational use along the rivers, both on the water and in the Greenway, with its miles of paved trails and other amenities.

Throw in attractions such as the Red River State Recreation Area and good boat ramps below Riverside Dam, in Lincoln Drive Park and on the Red Lake River, and opportunities to embrace recreation along the two rivers has never been better.

"Everyone has been more focused on the environment and realizing what a good asset we have with the Red Lake River and the Red River coming together," King said. "Grand Forks has made improvements to their docks and their boat ramps. It just seems like people are getting out and using the river more now than they probably ever have.

"I think about back when I was a kid growing up in the '80s and '90s, we were almost taught to be afraid of the river. Now, it's like, be respectful of it and the dangers that it causes, but also if you're following the proper safety procedures, it can be a great recreation (option)."