The idea for the Roseau ATV Park was generated with the initiation of the Roseau East Diversion Flood Control Project nearly 20 years ago.  As part of justification for the U.S.  Army Corps of Engineers to construct the flood control project, the USACE needed to meet a 1 to 1 project cost-benefit ratio.  This ratio of benefits to costs not only included flood damages the project could avert, but it also any recreational benefits the project could provide to the community.  Thus, as the flood control project was being designed there were several recreational elements incorporated into the project that could provide more recreational opportunities for the Roseau area such a trails and picnic facilities.  One of the more unique recreational components included was the idea for an ATV park.  As home to Polaris Industries and a significant number of ATV enthusiast, it was felt this recreational feature was a real need for our community. The Roseau East Diversion project encompasses a lot of excess land that was required for high water storage during a peak flood event that would otherwise sit idle all the other times of the year.  This provided a great opportunity for ATV users to be able to ride in an area where they would not be on private property or in areas that would be detrimental to the natural environment. It was also hoped that by providing a designated area for ATV usage it would avert damages to other sensitive areas of the flood control project not suitable for ATV use. 

The USACE worked with some ATV enthusiasts from the Roseau area to develop an initial design for the thirty-acre park on the west side of the Roseau East Diversion project in one of the flood storage cells.  The goal of the design process was to create a terrain park that would provide an interesting and challenging terrain course for ATV riders to run that would provide a different riding experience than typical trail riding in the area.  The materials used to construct the terrain course were provided from spoil and materials unearthed during construction of the flood diversion channel.  However, the ATV terrain park was never fully completed as originally designed by the USACE due to a lack of available spoil materials on site once the project commenced.  The Park, as it is, has been open and available to the local community for nearly ten years, but the City of Roseau has always hoped that a local ATV club would take ownership of the park to fully complete it as originally planned and potentially expand and improve on it to make it a first-class community amenity.  Today the City of Roseau and the Roseau Park Board are very excited to see the new Roseau Powersports Club being formed to take a leadership role in more fully developing and managing the park to meet the recreational needs of our community and visitors.