GRAND FORKS – The Red River Snowmobile Club’s latest attempt to expand snowmobile access in the Grand Forks Greenway has been a hot topic on local talk radio, with Brian Chandler, the club’s vice president, and others painting Kim Greendahl as the villain in a well-orchestrated campaign to keep snowmobiles out of the Greenway and maintain it as a haven for cross-country skiers, hikers, bikers and birdwatchers with an

online survey she posted in November.

From Chandler’s perspective, it all came down to the survey Greendahl developed to gather input on the trail proposal. Greendahl is Greenway specialist for the city of Grand Forks.

Grand Forks Police Chief Mark Nelson by city code has the authority to set snowmobile routes within city limits, at least for now, but after results from the survey – which was for information only and wasn’t a vote – came back overwhelmingly against the club’s request on Nov. 17, the Police Department opted to leave the proposed Greenway expansion out of the recommended snowmobile route it presented to the City Council.

Greendahl knew exactly what she was doing by developing the survey, and she knew who would be taking it, Chandler says.

The survey was available on the

Greenway website,

and Greendahl also sent postcards to more than 2,200 people who live near the Greenway to inform them about the proposed snowmobile route, something she said she does every fall to provide an update on snowmobile regulations.

“Guess who responded with the negative comments – it was her gurus that she sends emails to once a week,” Chandler said, calling it a “phony” survey. “And they were the ones that said snowmobilers are bad and they run over people and squirrels and they’re noisy and they pollute and all the things that she said – it was just a broken record.”

Just like that, Chandler says, the proposed trail extension was put on hold.

The survey limited respondents to one survey per device, but there was no limit on the number of devices a person could use to respond.

According to a survey analysis

posted on the Greenway website, 176 respondents stated they had a Grand Forks zip code, while others came from outlying areas including Park River, Halstad, Crookston, Oslo, Fargo, Minot and as far away as Colorado, New Jersey and New York City.

Greendahl said…