List of Minnesota state parks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The St. Louis River flows through a series of rapids in Jay Cooke State Park.

A Minnesota state park is an area of land in the U.S. state of Minnesota preserved by the state for its natural, historic, or other resources. Minnesota currently has 71 state parks, covering more than 260,000 acres (1,052.18 kmÂ²) ^[1]. Each was created by an act of the Minnesota Legislature and is maintained by the Department of Natural Resources. The Minnesota Historical Society operates sites within some of them. The park system began in 1891 when a state law was adopted to "maintain intact, forever, a limited quantity of the domain of this commonwealth...in a state of nature."

1 List of Minnesota state parks
2 Gallery
3 See also
4 External links
5 References
6 General References

[edit] List of Minnesota state parks

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Park Name	County or Counties	Area in acres (kmÂ²)	Date founded	Stream(s) and / or Lake(s)	Remarks
Afton State Park [1]	Washington	1695 acres (6.86 kmÂ²)	1969	St. Croix River	Park lies on a glacial moraine with deep ravines that drop 300 feet (91.44 m) down to the St. Croix River.
Banning State Park [2]	Pine	6201 acres (25.09 kmÂ²)	1963	Kettle River	Park consists of 1.5 miles (2.41 km) of churning rapids.
Bear Head Lake State Park [3]	St. Louis	4523 acres (18.30 kmÂ²)	1961	Bear Head Lake	Park is located just south of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Beaver Creek Valley State Park [4]	Houston	1187 acres (4.80 kmÂ²)	Unknown	None	Park is home to the timber rattlesnake.
Big Bog State Recreation Area [5]	Beltrami	9459 acres (38.28 kmÂ²)	2006	None	The Big Bog sits on the southeast side of glacial Lake Agassiz.
Big Stone Lake State Park [6]	Big Stone	986 acres (3.99 kmÂ²)	1961	Big Stone Lake	The park is located on the south end of glacial Lake Agassiz.
Blue Mounds State Park [7]	Rock	1826 acres (7.39 kmÂ²)	1961	None	The park is named after a linear escarpment of Precambrian quartzite bedrock.
Buffalo River State Park [8]	Clay	1,322 acres (5.35 kmÂ²)	1937	Buffalo River	The prairie within the park is judged to be one of the largest and best of the state's prairie preserves.
Camden State Park [9]	Lyon	2245 acres (9.09 kmÂ²)	1934	Redwood River	Thirteen buildings and structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Carley State Park [10]	Wabasha	209 acres (0.85 kmÂ²)	1948	Whitewater River	Park is named after State Senator James A. Carley, who donated the land.
Cascade River State Park [11]	Cook	2865 acres (11.59 kmÂ²)	1957	Lake Superior and Cascade River	Park is connected to the Superior Hiking Trail and North Shore State Trail.
Charles A. Lindbergh State Park [12]	Morrison	436 acres (1.76 kmÂ²)	1901	Mississippi River	Park is home of Charles August Lindbergh, Congressman and the father of the famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh.
Crow Wing State Park [13]	Crow Wing, Cass, and Morrison	2871 acres (11.62 kmÂ²)	1959	Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers	The region was formed by the drainage of glacial Lake Grantsburg.
Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area [14]	Crow Wing	1824 acres (7.38 kmÂ²)	1993	Chain of small lakes and streams	American Bald Eagles frequent the area.
Father Hennepin State Park [15]	Mille Lacs	320 acres (1.29 kmÂ²)	1941	Mille Lacs Lake	Park is named after Father Louis Hennepin, a priest who visited the area with a French expedition in 1680.
Flandrau State Park [16]	Brown	1006 acres (4.07 kmÂ²)	1934	Cottonwood River	Park is named after Charles Eugene Flandrau, an important figure in the Battles of New Ulm during the Dakota War of 1862.
Forestville Mystery Cave State Park [17]	Fillmore	3170 acres (12.83 kmÂ²)	Unknown	None	Park contains Mystery Cave, the longest cave in the state that is open to the public.
Fort Ridgely State Park [18]	Nicollet and Renville	1040 acres (4.21 kmÂ²)	1911	Fort Ridgely Creek	Park preserves Fort Ridgely, which is notable for its use during the Dakota War of 1862.
Fort Snelling State Park [19]	Ramsey, Hennepin, and Dakota	2931 acres (11.86 kmÂ²)	1962	Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers	Park contains historic Fort Snelling, which was built in 1819.
Franz Jevne State Park [20]	Koochiching	118 acres (0.48 kmÂ²)	1967	Rainy River	The sons of Franz Jevne, a lawyer, offered to donate land to the state for use as a park on the condition that it be named after their father.
Frontenac State Park [21]	Goodhue	2270 acres (9.19 kmÂ²)	1957	Lake Pepin on Mississippi River	Park is home to 260 species of birds for part or all of the year.
Garden Island State Recreation Area [22]	Lake of the Woods	734 acres (2.97 kmÂ²)	Unknown	Lake of the Woods
George H. Crosby Manitou State Park [23]	Lake	3320 acres (13.44 kmÂ²)	1955	Manitou River	Park contains many undisturbed miles of fir, cedar, spruce, and northern hardwoods.
Glacial Lakes State Park [24]	Pope		1963
Glendalough State Park [25]	Otter Tail
Gooseberry Falls State Park [26]	Lake	1675 acres (6.77 kmÂ²)	1933	Lake Superior
Grand Portage State Park [27]	Cook			Pigeon River	Park contains a 120 foot (37 meter) waterfall, the tallest in the state.
Great River Bluffs State Park [28]	Winona			Mississippi River
Hayes Lake State Park [29]	Roseau
Hill-Annex Mine State Park [30]	Itasca		1912
Interstate Park [31]	Chisago		1895	St. Croix River	This was the first park in the United States to span two states (Minnesota and Wisconsin)
Itasca State Park [32]	Hubbard, Clearwater, and Becker	32000 acres (129.50 kmÂ²)	1891	Lake Itasca	Minnesota's oldest state park. Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi River
Jay Cooke State Park [33]	Carlton	8,818 acres (35.69 kmÂ²)	1915	Saint Louis River
John A. Latsch State Park [34]	Winona	1654 acres (6.69 kmÂ²)	1925	Mississippi River
Judge C. R. Magney State Park [35]	Cook		1957
Kilen Woods State Park [36]	Jackson
Lac Qui Parle State Park [37]	Lac qui Parle and Chippewa
Lake Bemidji State Park [38]	Beltrami
Lake Bronson State Park [39]	Kittson
Lake Carlos State Park [40]	Douglas
Lake Louise State Park [41]	Mower
Lake Maria State Park [42]	Wright
Lake Shetek State Park [43]	Murray County
Maplewood State Park [44]	Otter Tail
McCarthy Beach State Park [45]	St. Louis
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park [46]	Mille Lacs
Minneopa State Park [47]	Blue Earth
Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area [48]	Hennepin, Dakota, Scott, Carver, Sibley, and Le Sueur			Minnesota River
Monson Lake State Park [49]	Swift County
Moose Lake State Park [50]	Carlton
Myre-Big Island State Park [51]	Freeborn			Albert Lea Lake
Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park [52]	Rice
Old Mill State Park [53]	Marshall
Red River State Recreation Area [54]	Polk
Rice Lake State Park [55]	Steele and Dodge
Saint Croix State Park [56]	Pine County			St. Croix River
Sakatah Lake State Park [57]	Le Sueur and Rice			Sakatah Lake on the Cannon River
Savanna Portage State Park [58]	Aitkin and St. Louis
Scenic State Park [59]	Itasca
Schoolcraft State Park [60]	Cass and Itasca
Sibley State Park [61]	Kandiyohi
Soudan Underground Mine State Park [62]	St. Louis
Split Rock Creek State Park [63]	Pipestone
Split Rock Lighthouse State Park [64]	Lake
Temperance River State Park [65]	Cook
Tettegouche State Park [66]	Lake
Upper Sioux Agency State Park [67]	Yellow Medicine
Whitewater State Park [68]	Winona
Wild River State Park [69]	Chisago			St. Croix River
William O'Brien State Park [70]	Washington			St. Croix River
Zippel Bay State Park [71]	Lake of the Woods			Lake of the Woods

[edit] Gallery


Fort Snelling State Park, the Round Tower	Itasca State Park, birthplace of the Mississippi River	William O' Brien State Park, the St. Croix River	Tettegouche State Park, the High Falls
Buffalo River State Park, The Buffalo River

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Minnesota State Parks on the Department of Natural Resources website
Minnesota Statute 85.012 State parks - statutory list
Minnesota State Park System - Legislative Auditor Report

[edit] References

^ Welcome to Minnesota State Parks. Minnesota DNR (2007). Retrieved on March 27, 2007.

[edit] General References

Arthur, Anne. Minnesota's State Parks. Adventure Publications, 1998. ISBN 1-885061-51-X
Meyer, Roy Willard. Everyone's Country Estate: A History of Minnesota's State Parks. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991. ISBN 0-87351-266-9

	State of Minnesota Saint Paul (capital)
Topics	Cities \| Climate \| Colleges and universities \| Congressional districts \| Demographics \| Economy \| Geology \| Governors \| High schools \| Historical Congressional delegations \| History \| Lakes \| Music \| Naval ships \| People \| Political parties \| Regions \| Rivers \| School districts \| Scouting \| Sports \| State fair \| State parks \| Territory \| Townships \| Transportation
Regions	Arrowhead \| Boundary Waters \| Buffalo Ridge \| Central \| Coulee Region \| Greater Minnesota \| Iron Range \| Minnesota River Valley \| North Shore \| Northwest Angle \| Pipestone \| Red River Valley \| Southeast \| Twin Cities metropolitan area
Major cities	Bloomington \| Duluth \| Minneapolis \| Rochester \| Saint Cloud \| Saint Paul
Smaller cities over 10,000 population	Albert Lea \| Alexandria \| Andover \| Anoka \| Apple Valley \| Austin \| Bemidji \| Blaine \| Brainerd \| Brooklyn Center \| Brooklyn Park \| Buffalo \| Burnsville \| Champlin \| Chanhassen \| Chaska \| Cloquet \| Columbia Heights \| Coon Rapids \| Cottage Grove \| Crystal \| Eagan \| East Bethel \| Eden Prairie \| Edina \| Elk River \| Fairmont \| Faribault \| Farmington \| Fergus Falls \| Forest Lake \| Fridley \| Golden Valley \| Ham Lake \| Hastings \| Hibbing \| Hopkins \| Hutchinson \| Inver Grove Heights \| Lakeville \| Lino Lakes \| Mankato \| Maple Grove \| Maplewood \| Marshall \| Mendota Heights \| Minnetonka \| Monticello \| Moorhead \| Mounds View \| New Brighton \| New Hope \| New Ulm \| North Branch \| North Mankato \| North St. Paul \| Northfield \| Oakdale \| Otsego \| Owatonna \| Plymouth \| Prior Lake \| Ramsey \| Red Wing \| Richfield \| Robbinsdale \| Rosemount \| Roseville \| St. Louis Park \| St. Michael \| St. Peter \| Sartell \| Sauk Rapids \| Savage \| Shakopee \| Shoreview \| South St. Paul \| Stillwater \| Vadnais Heights \| West St. Paul \| White Bear Lake \| White Bear Township \| Willmar \| Winona \| Woodbury \| Worthington
Counties	Aitkin \| Anoka \| Becker \| Beltrami \| Benton \| Big Stone \| Blue Earth \| Brown \| Carlton \| Carver \| Cass \| Chippewa \| Chisago \| Clay \| Clearwater \| Cook \| Cottonwood \| Crow Wing \| Dakota \| Dodge \| Douglas \| Faribault \| Fillmore \| Freeborn \| Goodhue \| Grant \| Hennepin \| Houston \| Hubbard \| Isanti \| Itasca \| Jackson \| Kanabec \| Kandiyohi \| Kittson \| Koochiching \| Lac qui Parle \| Lake \| Lake of the Woods \| Le Sueur \| Lincoln \| Lyon \| McLeod \| Mahnomen \| Marshall \| Martin \| Meeker \| Mille Lacs \| Morrison \| Mower \| Murray \| Nicollet \| Nobles \| Norman \| Olmsted \| Otter Tail \| Pennington \| Pine \| Pipestone \| Polk \| Pope \| Ramsey \| Red Lake \| Redwood \| Renville \| Rice \| Rock \| Roseau \| St. Louis \| Scott \| Sherburne \| Sibley \| Stearns \| Steele \| Stevens \| Swift \| Todd \| Traverse \| Wabasha \| Wadena \| Waseca \| Washington \| Watonwan \| Wilkin \| Winona \| Wright \| Yellow Medicine