Stearns County’s Park Department has received their largest grant ever to help extend the Lake Wobegon Trail from St. Joseph to Waite Park.

According to Stearns County Parks Director Peter Theismann the Parks and Trails Legacy Program will use the $1 million grant to help fund purchasing of the trail corridor, completion of engineering plans for building the trail and the construction of a portion of the trail located in River’s Edge Park in Waite Park.

The additional 3.2 miles from St. Joseph to Waite Park will be running parallel to an active railroad line and make the entire trail over 57 miles long.

Theismann also notes that the plans are to purchase the land this year and finish construction in Rivers Edge Park in Waite Park in 2015.