Copyright (c) 1998, Duluth News-Tribune
Wednesday, July 1, 1998
PAGE: 01C
By Daniel Bernard/News-Tribune staff writer 

GARDENER TRANSFORMS FORGOTTEN PARK

A DULUTH MAN HAS DEVOTED LOTS OF TIME AND EFFORT TO RESCUING A FORGOTTEN PARK.
NOW THE CITY IS TALKING ABOUT PUTTING CENTRAL PARK BACK ON THE MAP.

   The section of the Duluth hillside beneath Enger Tower is green, but too steep and craggy to be developed. For the last half century, City Hall and the community have largely forgotten the 33-acre patch that rolls from Skyline Parkway to First Street between 14th and 17th avenues west.
   But the rangy stretch of hill intrigued Dan Nyquist when he and his wife and son moved to 18th Avenue West in the Goat Hill neighborhood in 1995.
   Nyquist, a Duluth native who works for the city as a gardener, noticed the slope contained choice plateaus for viewing the lake and the city, such as one overlook northeast of Second Street and 17th Avenue West. Beneath straggles of thistle, ragweed and chokeberry trees lay walking trails, one northwest of Third Street and 14th Avenue that leads to Enger.
   ''I called the city to find out who owned it,'' Nyquist said.
   The city owns it, Nyquist discovered. The wooded area is a bona fide city park named ''Central Park.'' Research showed that after the hill was clear-cut in 1880s, it was used for hiking and picnics.
   In 1911, the city drew up a master plan that envisioned a wending network of manicured trails, but funding never materialized. Nyquist said records suggest the city has not maintained the area for at least 40 years. Its poplars, dogwoods and hazelnut shrubs became overgrown and diseased.
   In 1995, Nyquist started pruning, weeding and culling in the woods. He planted orange lilies, purple lupines and white Shasta daisies from his own yard. Where debris-clogged streams overran trails, he rerouted them.
   In 1996, Nyquist sought a Neighborhood Matching Grant from the city to spruce up Central Park some more. He was approved for $1,000 and planted 400 perennial native wildflowers, 50 shrubs and 150 trees. To the resident aspens, willows, birches and cottonwoods, he added sugar maples, red oaks, white cedars and tamaracks -- some seedlings, some 1 1/2 -inches thick.
   Apart from his full-time day job working at parks around the city, for Nyquist, fixing up Central Park became somewhat of a part-time second job, with occasional help from his family and neighbors. He took two weeks' vacation in May only to spend 100 hours working in the woods.
   This month, the city approved a second Neighborhood Matching Grant of $3,000. Nyquist, 38, plans to plant another 400 trees and shrubs and 500 wildflowers.
   Now City Gardener Tom Kasper is talking about making the area an ''urban arboretum'' featuring native Minnesota trees as an outdoor learning experience for school children. The city plans next year to start weeding and clearing the area regularly with help from neighbors. Even sooner, they'll erect a sign so everyone will know the wooded area has a name. Central Park remains scruffy and challenging for walkers. Kasper says it will always be ''wild.''
   ''We need more parks like this one is, which is natural,'' Kasper said. ''Until Dan came along, the park had pretty much been completely forgotten.''