100 Dakota Electric Members Volunteer at Lebanon Hills

Approximately 100 Dakota Electric Association members volunteered their time on May 5 at Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan as part of the 13th annual, state-wide, Touchstone Energy GreenTouch day.

Armed with rakes, shovels, clippers and work gloves, the volunteers did a variety of work to help prepare Lebanon Hills for the summer season. Scout groups helped cover over and close off an old trail and other volunteers raked, planted grass seed and installed erosion blankets along the edge of a new trail around McDonough Lake near the Visitor Center. Other projects included hauling out buckthorn brush and moving rock to a culvert to control erosion near the trail.

"We are very excited about the work that Dakota Electric's volunteers accomplished," Katie Pata, park operations coordinator, said. "We will be able to have the new trail around McDonough Lake open by Memorial Day thanks to the work these volunteers did."

Dakota Electric efforts to organize volunteers at the park is part of a larger statewide effort started by electric cooperatives. On GreenTouch Day this year, more than 540 volunteers worked 2,148 hours to prepare parks around Minnesota for the summer season.

This was the first year Dakota Electric rallied volunteers to work at Lebanon Hills Regional Park. For more than a decade, volunteers worked at Fort Snelling State Park. Dakota Electric decided to see if Dakota County could support a large number of volunteers at one event.

"Our volunteers said they were interested in helping within the Dakota County Park system," said Joe Miller, event organizer for Dakota Electric. "When we talked to park personnel they were excited to explore the opportunity to put 100 volunteers to work."

"These volunteers got some significant projects completed for the park," Pata said. "We want to give a big thank you to all the volunteers and invite them back this summer to see the fruits of their hard work and great energy!"

"Our volunteers greatly enjoyed helping at Lebanon Hills this year, and we plan to be back next year," Miller said.

Celebrating 75 years of service in 2012, Dakota Electric Association provides electricity to more than 100,000 members throughout Dakota County and portions of Goodhue, Rice and Scott counties. Dakota Electric, a Touchstone Energy Partner, serves its member/owners with integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community.