Martin Slough Trail winds way toward completion

It’s arguable that more acres of open water have been added to the Martin Slough trail system over the past two years than actual trail.

Construction plans for the paved 2.5-mile multi-use plan are complete, but hang-ups over the right-of-way have prevented those plans from being realized.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is working on the final issues with an altered right-of-way and once that’s acquired, the trail should go to bid sometime this spring.

That’s around when work should begin this year on the Seeman Pond in Minden.

The town received an anonymous $353,720 donation toward $800,000 in improvements proposed for the park. With the town budgeting $350,000, that should bring the Seeman Pond very close to fully operational.

As envisioned, the new park will feature a bridge over the inlet from the Heybourne Ditch, a floating fishing dock, a larger parking lot at the Buckeye Trailhead and a dog park.

On the other end of the 2.5-mile trail, the newest pond lies off of Snafflebit in Gardnerville and was essentially a detention basin that filled with water and has become a home for waterfowl.

While Minden has a plan for the Seeman Pond, Heybourne Meadows Recreation Pond in Gardnerville is still very much a blank slate.

A Gardnerville town parks plan approved on Jan. 5 included a drawing of amenities proposed for the new pond, including a floating dock, expanded parking at the trailhead and restrooms and play areas.

However, with a roughly $2 million estimated price tag and a potential 30-year build-out, it will be a while before the pond sees too much work.

Trails were listed as one of the most desired park improvements during a September survey with the Martin Slough Park plan as one of the most popular portions of the town’s recreational facilities. Martin Slough is the largest recreational area in the town at 55 acres, larger than Lampe Park, which is operated by the county.

The first water feature to be created along the trail were the Chichester Ponds, built around 1998. Eventually the trail will connect Gardnerville with Minden, linking the ponds straddling Gilman Avenue with Jake’s Wetlands, which was built in 2007.

The Martin Slough was dug in the 19^th Century to irrigate land north of the East Fork of the Carson River.

It travels just north of the Douglas County Community & Senior Center before skirting the edge of Lampe Park and crossing Highway 395 near Toler Lane.

The slough travels northwest from Gardnerville crossing Buckeye Road between the Bently Distillery and Seeman Pond before continuing along behind the Carson Valley Inn parking lot on its way to Jake’s Wetland and Wildlife Meadow, named after Minden lawmaker Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen.

The slough crosses Highway 395 north of the Minden Gardnerville Sanitation District and rejoins the East Fork near where Muller Lane crosses the river.