Minnesota Trails

A $10,000 grant from Midwest Mountaineering can help the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota buy the land for an important link between Lake Byllesby Regional Park and Goodhue County Park along the Cannon River—including a canoe portage and 3.75 miles of trail.

Bill Morrissey, 67, died December 1, leaving a legacy of more than 30 years of dedication and love for Minnesota’s state parks and trails.  Morrissey helped create several state parks and served on the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota board from 2007 to 2010. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year.

A layer of fresh white snow covered the landscape at Lake Bemidji State Park.

            Naturalist John Fylpaa led a group of Thursday snowshoers when they came across a trail of timber wolf tracks leading to Big Bog Lake.

The prime trail clearing season is also the prime deer hunting season in Minnesota in November. Todd McMahon and Matt  Davis didn't take any changes while clearing the North Country Trail through the Chippewa National Forest in Northern Minnesota this November. McMahon wore blaze orange from head to toe, even his backpack loaded with trail clearing gear was orange.

      Imagine, children playing soccer on cross-country skies, rocking back and forth on a wide teeter-totter with those skies and trying to negotiate a hill on one ski.

            These are just a few of the activities young people ages seven to 13 participate in during the Loppet Adventure Winter Camp held each year at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis during winter break.

     These questions and answers are intended to provide information for DNR customers — citizens, regulated parties, grantees, localgovernments, and others — on DNR services potentially affected by a state government shutdown.

Stephanie Hemphill: MPR News

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota's state parks will close at 4 p.m. June 30 if there is no budget agreement before then, the state Department of Natural Resources says.

A live webcam has been placed in a peregrine falcon box that is located in the Bremer Bank building in downtown St. Paul, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR).

by Doug Smith: Star Tribune

One side says valuable black walnut trees in Minnesota state parks shouldn't be left to age and rot -- they should be cut down and sold for much-needed state revenue. The other side says our state parks have never been commercially logged, and they have long been managed to let nature take its course, not maximize profits.

by Susan Hegarty: Mn House Public Info

You might not notice Bob and Pat Tammen sitting in the House hearing rooms. Bob, clothed in a crisp, pressed dress shirt and necktie, blends in with the lobbyists, deputy commissioners and expert testifiers. Pat sits next to her husband, alert to the day’s agenda.