The city of Hibbing will soon begin the development of a 41-unit recreation vehicle campground on elevated terrain west of Carey Lake. The campground will include the extension of water and electrical services to each site, group tent campsites, a shower building, restrooms, campsite fire rings and picnic tables.
Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation awarded the city $1,500 in Grant Writing Assistance to hire a professional grant writer to prepare and apply for a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Recreation Grant, which provides matching funds to local units of government for up to 50% of the cost of acquisition, development and/or redevelopment of local parks and recreation areas. The city used the $1,500 to hire Nancy Larson to navigate the complexities of the grant application process. She successfully secured a $350,000 Outdoor Recreation grant for Hibbing’s campground development.
Larson is the CEO of Community Coaching Inc. and has garnered over $20 million in grants for small organizations and communities since 2005.
“The complexity of the grant application involved environmental review standards including site reviews, environmental screenings, ADA requirements and public benefit analysis,” said Nick Arola, Hibbing director of city services. “The application process is quite lengthy and thorough. The city of Hibbing does not currently have the capacity to complete this type of application. Having the Grant Writing Assistance funding to hire Nancy enabled us to submit a quality proposal and ultimately be selected to receive the Outdoor Recreation grant.”
Carey Lake Park was established in the 1960s and is 1,139 acres. The park is mostly pristine and undeveloped and contains forested and wetland areas including 139-acre Carey Lake. There is small boat public access, a swimming beach, fishing pier and trails for biking, hiking and cross-country skiing. An estimated 2,000 plus annual visitors visit the park.
Campground construction is scheduled to begin this spring. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation awarded the city of Hibbing a $250,000 Development Infrastructure grant to upgrade the water and electrical services and a $95,361 Regional Trails grant to improve existing and develop new trails around the park. Learn more about Carey Lake Park.
