Keira McNiff is a senior at Great River Montessori in St. Paul.
By Keira McNiff
A beloved Twin Cities dog park is about to fundamentally change.
After decades of not enforcing park boundaries, creating a uniquely free and beautiful experience for dogs and dog owners, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has announced that it will be erecting fences and reducing access to parts of the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park.
The park has been used by the community for the past 30 years. The area is lush, with streams and woods, bordering on the Mississippi. For many residents of the city, this is the only place where pets can run free in nature.
In October, MPRB passed a resolution to begin enforcing the dog park boundaries with fencing. Notably, they explicitly stated that they were going to do it without a public hearing.
The resolution formalizes the park’s boundaries with fencing, closing off a majority of the access to the Mississippi beach. The new fencing cements the park’s boundaries with nearby landowners, the Minnesota Historical Society and the National Park Service. It’s also creating only one access point with double gates.
This decision caused immediate community outcry. The areas that are being fenced off are parts of the park that visitors have frequented for decades. Most had no idea that there even was a property boundary.
I have been going to this dog park since I was nine years old. I grew up running through the woods with my dogs. I know the trails well. I would play in the exposed tree roots on the beach, pretending it was my house, or play fetch in the creek with my dog Bruno. I loved walking along the bluffs, and climbing the frozen waterfall to catch a glimpse of the water running under a foot of ice. The space was magical for me.
When I first heard about the changes, I, like many others, was upset. The boundaries and standards that are now being enforced are ones I had no idea existed. I also did not understand what the changes were and why they were happening.
Over the years, MPRB has posted signage and sent emails to redirect dog owners from leaving the official boundaries. But the signs faded into the background of the woods, and the emails seem to have gone to only a small percentage of park visitors. Overall, the communication was limited, and did not reach most park users.
Many people feel like the park is being taken away from them. A petition to “save” the dog park emerged and gathered thousands of signatures. The public feels left out of this decision, and the result is a general misunderstanding, confusion, and anger.
MPRB’s official decision to “inform” instead of dialogue with constituents is a bad one. The Minnehaha Dog Park is a cherished community space, and these changes should have been handled with more care. MPRB should have known that this would be a jarring change; they could have avoided the crisis of misunderstanding with more conversation.
MPRB’s “inform” engagement model requires the board to provide information in a clear and timely manner so that everyone can understand what’s happening. This has not happened.
It isn’t too late to include the public. MPRB should take responsibility, and facilitate public meetings, informing the community that is being impacted by these changes and including them and the neighboring property owners in coming up with solutions.
By inviting dialogue and holding space for this change the park board can take steps towards a right course of action that balances all needs.
Keira worked with Shattuck-St. Mary’s English Literary Teacher T McKinley and retired AP News Reporter Terry Wolkerstorfer to complete her story. This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s 2024 Op-Ed Workshop for high school youth in partnership with Sahan Journal and the Minnesota Star Tribune.
