FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

DULUTH - Some Chester Park community members are upset after crews came in and cut down trees and brush.

First June's raging waters devastated Chester Creek, now there is a different kind of problem.

"Losing a tree is traumatic let alone cutting a whole trail of trees," said Ann Holtz.

Holtz is just one Chester Creek neighbor upset over the recent grooming of the park.

"It's completely changed the ambiance in the park," said Holtz.

There were plans for the bridge to be rerouted, brush and trees are now just stumps and new trails created.

"People that grew up here come back and live here they buy houses where they were children," said Holtz. "That's the type of history that you're disrupting whey you change this park."

Neighbors have noticed it affects the runoff.

"When the trees are gone the water flows downhill a lot quicker a lot more uncontrolled," long time trail volunteer Dan Proctor said.

It takes away from the park's natural beauty and disturbs the wildlife.

"It impacts everything in the neighborhood," said Holtz. "It changes the daily flow, the way people come together."

Officials tell us some of the construction was not supposed to happen and is a result of miscommunication.

But part of the grooming has to do with flood recovery efforts and making the trails more sustainable.

"We just want to get in there, freshen up the trails, get them into modern skiing standards," Duluth Cross Country Ski Club Board Member Andre Watt said. "That involves some brushing of the trails to get them back to the original width."

It's all to potentially make Chester Park a state of the art ski trail used for competitive events.

"Kind of making Chester Bowl sort of a mecca for winter sports bothers cross country and downhill skiing."

But not all neighbors agree with that plan.

"It would change everything completely," said Holtz.

They believe at the end of the day those who walk the trails outnumber those who want to ski on them.

A public meeting for input on how to restore and enhance Chester Creek will be held next week.