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WALKER - Cass County has removed six properties from over-the-counter sales, had them reappraised at lower prices and will add them to another 10 parcels being offered at a 9 a.m. Oct. 27 county land auction at the courthouse in Walker.

Most of the parcels are acreages. Three are smaller lakeshore lots. A full list will be available from the land department office in Backus or online at www.co.cass.mn.us about Sept. 15.

The county sold 4,157 cords of timber from county lands at an Aug. 30 auction, netting $120,557. Also sold in that auction was 70,620 board feet of pine saw logs worth $9,768.84. Aspen sold for $28.55 per cord. The highest was paid was $36.86 per cord for red oak, with the lowest being $12.32 for burr oak.

Tuesday, the county board awarded a contract to haul gravel to repair a logging road for hauling timber to Sawyer Timber LLC for $15 per yard. There were two other bid ranging as high $20.83 per yard.

The board approved extending a contract deadline with ProWest from Dec. 17 to March 29, 21013, to allow more time to edit and review the timber sale and website update project.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will provide Cass County $152,928 for 2012-13 to operate and maintain snowmobile trails. The county oversees grooming and maintenance work snowmobile clubs do and distributes money from this fund to the clubs.

Cass commissioners accepted a $105,809 state Board of Water and Soil Resources grant. It is designed to pay for local water management, wetland conservation, shoreland management and individual sewer treatment system assistance.

Cass County will serve as fiscal agent for the Paul Bunyan Trail bridge installation at Shingobee Island just south of Walker.

Skip Duschesneau, representing the Walker area committee which has worked to connect the city of Walker to the Paul Bunyan Trail, told the county board they expect to seek bids for the bridge this fall, with work to be completed in 2013.

Work on the connecting trail began in 2009. The final phase will be a tunnel under Highway 371/200 at Walker.

Cass commissioners approved spending $58,921 for the county's half of a joint project with Wadena County to repave a three-mile county line road in Byron Township. Tri-City Paving won the contract with the lowest of five bids.

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