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Hartley Park Improvements Underway

[Duluth, MN] - The City of Duluth Parks and Recreation division is working on improvements to Hartley Park as part of the Mini-master Plan approved in 2014. Significant work was completed last year with a new boardwalk leading to the wet meadow, sustainable forest management with selective thinning, trail improvements, and invasive buckthorn removal.

Consistent with the Hartley Park Mini-Master Plan approved in 2014, construction will focus on an accessible trail loop, parking area improvements, interpretive signage, refurbishing of Old Hartley Road Trail, building a portion of the Duluth Traverse Trail and additional storm clean-up work with part of that being establishment of a pollinator meadow. Work is underway in some areas of the park with the majority of projects scheduled to be completed by the end of June, pending favorable weather. During the projects, areas of the park will be signed and or fenced closed for the public’s safety. Please watch for signs at the park entrances for more information. The project details consist of:

Parking – Parking access areas at Hartley Road, North Road and Fairmont Road will be reconfigured with a turnaround, regraded and paved with new curb and gutter. Work crews will be on site during the day but will ensure full access for evening hours. The main parking lot at the Hartley Nature Center is being reconstructed and will not have public access for parking during construction. During active construction the main park entrance will be limited to student drop-off for Nature Center programming only. Intermittent work will limit public parking in the main parking lot from now until late June.

Old Hartley Road Trail – Old Hartley Road Trail will be resurfaced with gravel and receive slope corrections to improve accessibility and water runoff. The project will require closure of the trail during work hours and runs the full length of the trail from the neighborhood access parking area on Hartley Road to the Hartley Nature Center.

Pollinator Meadows – Residual storm debris clean up, weed control and seed bed preparation for three new pollinator meadows will ensure biodiversity and reestablish native vegetation. The meadows are located near the pine stands where thinning occurred last year. The public can expect to see a disc tractor and a back hoe preparing the areas for seeding.

Accessible Trail – The current 0.3-mile trail from the Nature Center to the pond on the north side of Tischer Creek will be refreshed with packed gravel and have slope adjustments allowing for a 5-foot wide accessible trail. Work crews will fence off the sections of the trail as they progress but the entire trail will not be closed off to users.  

Duluth Traverse – The traverse will be extended from the wet meadow to the Nature Center Parking Lot and from the Parking Lot to the Fairmont Street entrance. The Rock Knob connector trail will be rebuilt, improving damage from the 2012 flood. The Duluth Traverse construction will be ongoing through the summer and be completed in the fall.

Interpretive Signage – 7 new interpretive signs will be placed in the park focusing on history and ecology of Hartley Park. 

We appreciate your patience while these improvements are underway at Hartley Park. Additional details can be viewed at http://duluthmn.gov/parks/parks-planning/hartley-park-mini-master-plan/ with questions directed to Jim Shoberg, Project Coordinator, at (218) 730-4316 or jshoberg@duluthmn.gov.

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