The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa have plans for expanding access to the Munger Trail in Cloquet area. The goal of the project is to help improve transportation options and connectivity in Carlton County.

Some of the ideas proposed are establishing connections between the Munger Trail and Black Bear Casino Resort or Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Mandi Rosebrock, the Community Development Planner with the Fond du Lac Band says the project will help with providing more accessibility to residents and visitors.

“Some of the goals are safety, obviously safety for people walking, biking. Also there’s an opportunity to improve the bridge going across the freeway, which is in poor condition,” Rosebrock said. “A lot of college kids maybe work at the casino going back and forth. A lot of college kids are really active and want to connect to the trails.”

Jason Hollinday, the Director of Planning with the Fond du Lac Band, says expanding access to the Munger Trail can help encourage folks to be more active.

“For the trail plan or the trail development, we want to have for Fond du Lac, there’s also a health and wellness aspect to it too. Get people up moving more, keep their blood pressure in check, get them a chance to lose some weight,” Hollinday said. “There’s a lot of benefits to just simple walking. So we’re just trying to provide that opportunity as well.”

The project will be funded through grants from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Tribal Transportation Safety Fund Program. Adam McGill, a KJL consultant engineer helping with the project says the total cost is unknown at this time.

“It’ll be a couple of years out that it’s actually constructed and so costs will perhaps inflate by that time. So giving an estimate right now is a bit difficult,” McGill said. “That really depends on a lot of things like what type of trail we build, whether we just do some signing and striping improvements to make people more aware or build a more robust, separate trail.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation, Carlton County, and the Twin Lakes Township are coordinating with the Fond du Lac Band with the Munger trail project. The construction is expected to begin in 2027.

“So there will be something in the spring, hopefully either late winter or early spring that we can show the results of our investigation,” McGill said. “The results of this initial input opportunity here and what opportunities we are favoring to push forward on the project.”

For more information on how you can give your input on the Munger Trail Connection Project you can look here. Also for other stories with the Fond du Lac Band you can read more here.