June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Camp Ripley prepares for summer activities
The military site lies immediately south and west of Cass and Crow Wing Counties. Its 2014 annual expenditures ran $146,314,803, St. Sauver reported. That had a $315,314,803 economic impact on the surrounding community, he said, predicting the 2015 economic impact would approach $400 million.
Camp Ripley has done prescribed burns on close to 14,000 acres this spring to lower the risk that training activities could set off a fire later in the summer and to create a safe environment for soldiers and the surrounding community, St. Sauver said.
Ripley takes into account wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity and fuel moisture content before starting prescribed burn fires, he added.
Loud banging from artillery training can be expected in May and August this year, he said. If there are no clouds to the west and it sounds like thunder, that's likely the artillery training instead, he said.
Most months this summer, St. Sauver said, there will be a lot of helicopter training activity over the area.
Units training at Ripley in May will include an engineering battalion from Willmar, a field artillery battalion from New Ulm, a brigade engineering battalion from Bloomington, brigade military police and 102nd training division from Fort Snelling and a Minneapolis troop command.
Units scheduled in June are a brigade support battalion from Little Falls, a combined arms battalion from Brainerd, a transportation company from Austin, a general support aviation battalion from Little Falls, a brigade engineering battalion from Bloomington, a combined arms battalion from Moorhead and three units from Nebraska.
Training in July will be a cavalry unit from Duluth, a division headquarters and headquarters battalion from Inver Grove Heights, a combat aviation brigade from St. Paul, an aviation support battalion from Arden Hills, a combat armored battalion from Ohio, a maneuver enhancement brigade from South Dakota, an air control squadron from Wisconsin and a battlefield surveillance brigade from Nebraska.
August will see a field artillery Battalion from Montevideo, military police from Monticello, a regional support group from Roseville, a chemical enhanced response force package from Minneapolis, an engineering battalion from Brainerd, a combat armored battalion from Ohio, a chemical enhanced response force package from Wisconsin and an engineering battalion from South Dakota.
Camp Ripley is used for more than military training.
In September, Minnesota National Guard units will train there. The Morrison County Water Festival will be held there; Minnesota State Patrol and Department of Natural Resources certifications will be held there; Minnesota Department of Transportation will hold snowplow training at Ripley also.
The public will be welcomed at Camp Ripley's Biennial Open House from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 20. Then Oct. 4, Minnesota National Guard Court of Honor is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ripley.
Minnesota National Guard units and Minnesota Fire Marshal training will occur at Ripley in October. Deployed soldier and disabled veteran hunts are planned.
New construction completed at Ripley in 2014 included a medical simulation training center, which will be available not only to train military personnel, but also for area emergency medical responders, police and fire departments.
Also, an addition is just being completed to add housing quarters, dining space and class and meeting rooms to the camp education center.
St. Sauver said Ripley aims to work away from using the energy grid by installing geothermal, solar, biomass. Currently underway is a 100-acre solar field.
Camp Ripley manages its land for wildlife, fisheries, forestry, protected species, pest management, cultural resources, and wetlands. It has environmental partnerships with state and federal agencies, colleges and universities, local schools, The Nature Conservancy, and community interest groups, St. Sauver said.
Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]
Comments:
You must login to comment.