Friends of Council Grounds State Park (FoCGSP) recently presented the T.B. Scott Free Library in Merrill with a donation of $250 to be used to purchase 50 day-use Wisconsin resident State Park passes for the “Check Out Wisconsin State Parks at your Library” program. Passes may be used at any State Park in Wisconsin, but of course, the Friends Group encourages people to visit Council Grounds State Park right here in the Merrill area.
The program and passes aim to expand new visitors’ access to the Wisconsin State Park system by providing families with a chance to visit any Wisconsin State Park or Forest for free and introduces people to the library system and to Wisconsin State Parks. Each vehicle pass is valid for one day of the patron’s choosing. Along with the daily pass, the cardholder will receive an information kit of State Park materials and maps, stickers, accessibility information, and more.
The FoCGSP also purchased and donated four pairs of snowshoes to the T.B. Scott Free Library for child and smaller adult use. These snowshoes will enable families to enjoy the outdoors together, as the T.B. Scott Free Library already owns two pairs of adult snowshoes. All six pairs of snowshoes are now available for checkout by library cardholders from the T.B. Scott “Library of Things.”
Donation of the showshoes and funds to purchase State Park passes was approved by the members of the FoCGSP at their Nov. 2023 meeting. The group also supports park stewardship, making improvements in the park, hiring Wiscorp crews to build trails, and donations to the community with funds from membership dues, grants, donations from the public at park events, and from money earned from the sale of firewood during the camping season. Council Grounds State Park is unique in the State Park system because the Friends group is the only group in the Friends of Wisconsin State Park system where group volunteers on the Wood Crew make all the firewood sold in the park. Other State Parks must purchase firewood from outside vendors.
“It is exciting and gratifying for the Friends Group to be able to help the T.B. Scott Library get families involved with nature through the donation of snowshoes to the ‘Library of Things’ at T.B.Scott and monetary donation for passes for the ‘Check out Wisconsin State Parks at Your Library’ programs,” said Laura Nikolai-Svetlik, Social Media Coordinator for FoCGSP.