Corps crew cleans up after storm at Itasca

Fourth of July visitors to Itasca State Park can thank a Conservation Corps crew for a spiffy campground. The morning after a severe storm blew through Itasca State Park on July 2 – taking down trees, blocking roads and damaging cabins and equipment – a Conservation Corps crew arrived for five days of cleanup. Crew leader Karl Peterson and corps members Keith Brown, Anja Hogan, Tyler Myers and Jay Schelitzche cleared trees along access roads and cleaned up campsites and walking trails. They also cleared some forestry roads just north of Itasca in the new La Salle Lake State Recreation Area. Despite steamy working conditions, with temperatures in the upper 90s, the crew enjoyed working at the Mississippi headwaters. Two crew members had never been there, including Brown from Oklahoma.