Stutsman County Parks Survey Reveals Walking, Water Recreation Most Popular

Walking, water-based recreation and relaxation are the top three reasons households use Stutsman County park land, according to results from a citizen survey conducted in November that the Stutsman County Park Board is now using to build a comprehensive plan for its facilities.

"I think items that we were going down that path and focusing on, it kind of validates that we were going down the right way," said Merri Mooridian, a member of the Stutsman County Park Board. "But I think that it also just shows us where we can improve and offer more amenities and where we should focus and prioritize our efforts."

Levi Taylor, commission chair, said Stutsman County parks and recreation survey results found that 81% of respondents felt strongly in adding, expanding and improving trails and walking loops in existing parks in Stutsman County. "I think it's a great way to move forward to address those needs," he said.

Participants ranked paved multi-use trails as the most important facility or amenity for Stutsman County park lands. Mooridian said the trails serve a wide mix of users. "I think people mountain bike on them, plus they walk and hike or run on them," she said. "Community members have been wanting to find a way to connect the trails so that they are all about the same."

A goal to collect 300 surveys was met with 303 surveys completed. "I think they got 303 back, which instilled about a 95% confidence ratio in the results," Taylor said. Most respondents, 86%, reported visiting Stutsman County parks and recreation facilities in 2025. Survey results show 58% rated Stutsman County parks and recreation facilities as good or excellent, while 35% rated the facilities as fair and 6% as poor.

Mooridian said she is hopeful that a companion survey will help the park board in creating the comprehensive plan and making decisions that help improve the ratings of the county parks and recreation facilities. "As we're planning for the next year, five years, seven years, we can look at these results and be able to see where can we focus to get up to a higher percentage," she said.

The comprehensive plan was spearheaded by the late Jerry Bergquist, who was serving on the commission at the time. There is no comprehensive plan for the county parks, though a recreation plan was created many years ago for Jamestown Reservoir when the land along the shoreline was owned by the Bureau of Reclamation. The cost to create the comprehensive plan is more than $184,000.

The park board also gave formal backing to a new organization that would help sustain the trail network residents ranked so highly. Park board member Mooridian said a group that has been working to maintain trails at Jamestown and Pipestem reservoirs along with trails in Jamestown wants to start a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and the group is submitting a grant application to Jamestown Tourism to help with the legal process. "One of their goals is to be able to raise enough funds, have enough funds to be able to maintain the trails at both reservoirs and throughout Jamestown," she said. Mooridian said the Stutsman County Trail Builders Association would look to maintain all multipurpose trails.

Jessica Alonge, Stutsman County auditor/chief operating officer, said the next step in creating the comprehensive plan is for county residents to take a parks and recreation companion survey, which is open until midnight on April 5. The companion survey is available at bit.ly/stutsman2026. The comprehensive plan is expected to be finalized in the fall of 2026.