Closed landfills could host trails

After the second of two Winnebago County, Wisconsin, landfills reach capacity and close, biking and cross-country ski trails could be built and opened on the sites.

The Winnebago County Solid Waste Management Board recently discussed preliminary options for future recreational uses at the landfills, according to The Northwestern of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Because state rules require long-term maintenance of landfills, however, it will be 20 to 40 years before the sites can be turned into recreational green space. The Snell Road landfill closed in 1991, has 20 years to go on its care plan. Once the Sunnyview landfill closes at end of 2012, as expected, the site will enter into a 40-year care period, according to John Rabe, director of solid waste for Winnebago County.

Bruce Woods, of Woods Studio Landscape Architecture in Madison, told the waste management board that the south side of Sunnyview could be used for tubing and sledding during the winter and bike paths and cross-country ski trails could be built around the landfill.

A golf course wouldn't be practical, and a tow rope structure for a ski hill would need to be anchored more than 150 under the surface which would pierce "a membrane used for containing leachate and methane gas from the landfill."