BROOKINGS A teens love for fishing and nature will be memorialized at Dakota Nature Park following approval from the Park & Recreation Advisory Board at Monday nights meeting.
The family of the late Kayden Boe father Tony Shanks, mother Maggie Boe, and siblings Karrigan Shanks and Caeleb Shanks described a soul who embraced the outdoors.
Its in honor and memory of our son. He loved fishing. He loved spending his time out at the nature park, Tony Shanks said. We wanted to do something to provide something to the community and to help remember what he loved to do and help us be able to go out there and do what he loved to do.
Director of Parks, Recreation & Forestry Kristin Zimmerman thanked the family for their gift.
I think this will mean a lot to our families, and we cannot thank you enough for this generous donation, she said.
The gift will take the form of a bench with a plaque on it. Itll be placed on a 12-foot by 12-foot concrete pad.
The larger piece of concrete would be for future expansion, Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation & Forestry Josh Bauman said. Down the road theyd be able to put a shade structure up. It would be something that would work with a nature park theme. It would all kind of be cohesive out there.
In other updates at Monday’s meeting, board members learned:
Court resurfacing of basketball courts at Larson, Moriarty, Arrowhead and Indian Hills parks has been completed. Arrowhead is a new court, while the Indian Hills court is a tennis/basketball combination court.
They look great, Bauman said.
The water sourcing project at Edgebrook Golf Course is progressing as well, with drawings received from engineers, and its expected to go out to bid either this week or early next week.
Were pretty excited, as far as water sourcing includes the lining of the ponds at the same time as connecting to the raw water line at the golf course, Zimmerman said. Were making significant progress forward.
The year is winding down for the Brookings Sustainability Council as it continues its focus on the Brookings Community Food Forest, with the hope that perhaps a few more trees can be purchased for planting in spring.
The goal is to have a spring ribbon-cutting ceremony for the food forest, which is northeast of the Douglas Chittick Community Gardens north of the South Dakota State University campus.
The citys soon-to-launch food composting project was briefly brought up as well, with Zimmerman noting that food scraps comprise 25% of the trash at the Brookings Regional Landfill.
If you want to talk about the long-term sustainability of our landfill, its really getting some of that food compost out, she said.
Board member Steve Berseth noted the benefits of food composting as well, saying that he and his wife already do it in their backyard.
(Weve) been composting for years, he said. Its really good fertilizer, too.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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