List of Minnesota state parks

Map of State Parks of Minnesota
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There are 64 state parks, nine state recreation areas, nine state waysides, and 23 state trails in the Minnesota state park system, totaling approximately 267,000 acres (1,080 km2).[1][2] 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. Each was created by an act of the Minnesota Legislature and is maintained by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The Minnesota Historical Society operates sites within some of them. The park system began in 1891 with Itasca State Park when a state law was adopted to "maintain intact, forever, a limited quantity of the domain of this commonwealth...in a state of nature."[3] Minnesota's state park system is the second oldest in the United States, after New York's.[4]: 2 

Minnesota's state parks are spread across the state in such a way that there is a state park within 50 miles (80 km) of every Minnesotan.[5] The most recent park created is Lake Vermilion State Park, created in 2010. The parks range in size from Franz Jevne State Park with 118 acres (48 ha) to Saint Croix State Park with 34,037 acres (13,774 ha). Two parks include resources listed as National Natural Landmarks (Big Bog State Recreation Area and Itasca State Park) and six parks encompass National Historic Landmarks (Charles A. Lindbergh, Fort Snelling, Mille Lacs Kathio, St. Croix, Soudan Underground Mine, and Split Rock Lighthouse State Parks). 52 sites or districts across 34 Minnesota state parks are on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), including 22 parks with developments constructed by New Deal-era job creation programs in the 1930s.[6]

  1. ^ "Welcome to Minnesota State Parks". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  2. ^ "Proposed Lake Vermilion State Park". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  3. ^ "Itasca State Park National Register Listing". Minnesota Historical Society (May 1992 Update). May 1973. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  4. ^ Meyer, Roy Willard (1991). Everyone's Country Estate: A History of Minnesota's State Parks. Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87351-266-9.
  5. ^ "Minnesota Traveler" (PDF). Minnesota State Parks Newsletter. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Summer 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 30, 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2007., p. 16.
  6. ^ "Minnesota's National Register Properties". Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved October 31, 2012.