People Saving Special Places Whitewater SP (top left) & Voyageurs NP (top right) photos courtesy of Gary Alan Nelson. William O’Brien SP (bottom) photo courtesy of Rudi Hargesheimer. Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota Annual Report 2011 Illgen Falls. Photo courtesy of Rudi Hargesheimer. Our Mission: To acquire, protect and enhance critical lands for the public’s enjoyment now and in the future. Our Vision: We envision an interconnected system of parks, trails, waterways, natural areas and open spaces that provide all Minnesotans with outstanding outdoor recreational opportunities and that preserve the natural diversity of our state. 2 Dear Friends, Each year our work to preserve parks and trails is marked by unique projects. This year, the focus was on ensuring that key land, which was acquired in previous years, got put into the public parks and trails system. This is truly the most satisfying part of our work—when all the behind the scenes efforts pay off and Minnesotan’s gain access to places where they can connect with the outdoors. The highlight of the year was our work in facilitating a critical new addition of 100 acres to William O’Brien State Park, which you can read about on page four. Sometimes this process of securing and transferring land unfolds over the course of a few weeks and other times it can take years. Our ability to hold land in trust is part of what Steve Thorne makes the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota so invaluable to the process of adding new parks and trails land. We can move quickly to secure land that goes up for sale and then facilitate the process of getting that land into parks and trails. This is what we have done since 1954. While we continue strong in this work, this last year tested our state’s parks and trails system. General Fund support for parks and trails is diminishing. As you can read about on page six, state parks took a 17-percent cut from the General Fund in 2011 (a major source of parks funding). As a State, we are being challenged to stand up for the importance of preserving land that connects people to the outdoors. You will also see on page 6 that we had some victories, but we know we have our work cut out for us in reversing the trend in spending cuts in the future. Throughout our work, member support is what keeps us going. Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota started because visionaries Brett Feldman saw the need for an organization that works to preserve Minnesota land for parks and trails. Today we continue because our visionary members see this work must go on. Thank you for your support. Steve Thorne, President Brett Feldman, Executive Director 3 Land Acquisition THE PARKS & TRAILS COUNCIL OF MINNESOTA works to acquire, protect and enhance land that is critical to our state’s park and recreational trail systems so that Minnesota’s scenic, ecological and cultural character can be preserved for the public’s enjoyment now and in the future. Since 1954, we have been instrumental in adding more than 10,100 acres valued at more than $31 million to key areas within the state’s vast network of parks and trails. William O’Brien State Park On May 7, the Parks & Trails Council held an “O’Bigger, O’Better, O’Brien” party to celebrate the transfer of nearly 100 acres of private property to William O’Brien State Park in Marine on St. Croix. With this additional acreage, the park is now about 10 times larger than when it was created in 1947—now, in total, nearly 60% of the 1,750 acres in Wil- liam O’Brien State Park was acquired by the Parks & Trails Council. The celebration, attended by about 150 people, included a wildflower hike, tours, children’s crafts, fishing, music, raffle and silent auction. The newest babbling brook at William O’Brien State Park came as The 100-acre property, which is located within William part of the addition Parks & Trails Council worked for. O’Brien State Park, was sold to the Parks & Trails Council in December 2010 by Joan Grant and her children, Hendrie and Ann. The land was a summer retreat for the Grant family for 70 years. Now, park visitors will enjoy new views from atop the bluffs of the St. Croix River on land that contains some of the best remnant native prairie near the Twin Cities, as well as springs, woods, and a trout pond. The Grant family home was sold, along with 5 acres of land, to a preservation-minded buyer who now lives in the house. The transferred land also enhances efforts to protect the watershed. Park staff have a resource protection effort on lands to the west of the newly added parcel and in the adja- cent Nine Spring area. These efforts will now continue onto Roe Family Singers play during the O’Bigger, O’Better, O’Brien the new land. event on May 7. A grant from the Alice M. O’Brien Foundation helped make the property sale possible and the Grant Family also made a generous $100,000 donation to the Parks & Trails Council’s Samuel Morgan Land Fund. The Parks & Trails Council has been creating, protecting and enhancing parks and trails throughout Minnesota since 1954. At the celebration, Joan Grant talked about raising her family in a house on the property. “The only thing I do regret is that I didn’t spend more time in William O’Brien State Park.” Steve Thorne, president of the Parks & Trails Council in 2011, said the park is “an example of the partnership of Parks & Trails Council supporters enjoyed a naturalist hike at the public-spirited individuals, the Parks & Trails Council and O’Bigger, O’Better, O’Brien event. the DNR.” 4 KEY TRANSFERS IN 2011 Land Holdings 2011 Park/Trail Value ($) Acres Notes Crow Wing State Park 300,000 5.54 Purchased in 2008 Crow Wing State Park 260,000 7.10 Purchased in 2008 Cuyuna Lakes State Trail 19,260 9.25 Easement Gateway State Trail 0 0.80 Easement Scenic State Park 335,000 138.00 Purchased in 2009 Superior Hiking Trail 0 40.00 Voyageurs National Park. Photo courtesy of Gary Alan Nelson Tettegouche State Park 380,000 57.50 Purchased in 2008 Transferred to DNR in 2011 1,643,897 131.60 Voyageurs National Park Transferred to NPS in 2011 287,300 3.60 In September, the Parks & Trails Our total holdings (end 2011) 1,294,260 258.19 Council began transferring owner- ship of 3.4 acres of shoreline in Voyageurs National Park that had been held in trust for the National The Samuel H. Morgan Land Acquisition Fund Samuel Huntington Morgan (1911–2000) was a tireless advocate Park Service since 2007. The prop- for public parks and trails. He dedicated nearly 40 years of service to erty provides high visibility to park the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota and its predecessors, the visitors entering from Rainy Lake. Minnesota Council of Parks and the Minnesota Parks Foundation. In preparation for the transfer, vol- He was the longest-serving president in the Parks & Trails Council’s unteers dedicated hours of work in history and had served in various capacities on the board from 1962 environmental remediation. until his death in 2000. Whitewater State Park Even today, Morgan’s influence is important to the state’s parks and In June, the Parks & Trails Council trails. This year’s purchase of just under 100 acres in William O’Brien transferred 17 acres of land next State Park occurred in part because the owners, Joan and Hendrie to the visitor center at Whitewater Grant, were neighbors, friends and admirers of Morgan. State Park. This land was acquired in 2006. “It takes a lot of effort to Shortly after Morgan died, the Parks & Trails Council established buy land,” said Steve Young, land the Samuel H. Morgan Land Acquisition Fund to honor his extraor- acquisition consultant for Parks & dinary vision and leadership in helping create Minnesota’s world- Trails Council. “But it takes a lot of class park and trail systems. The fund functions as a revolving account effort to sell, too.” that gets spent many times over to acquire critical lands for parks and trails. Gateway State Trail A 2.5-acre easement purchased by To make a donation to the Samuel H. Morgan Land Acquisition Fund, the Parks & Trails Council in 2009 use the enclosed envelope or donate online at www.parksandtrails.org. was transferred to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Thanks to our volunteer attorneys in 2011 April. This easement, with one more In 2011, the Parks & Trails Council transferred ownership of land parcel still in private use, will con- valued at $1.9 million to public park and trail agencies. Because the nect downtown Scandia to William Parks & Trails Council has no attorney on staff, generous attorneys O’Brien State Park with a trail. donate their time to handle much of the legal work involved in these transactions. We especially thank the attorneys and law firms Goodhue-Pioneer State Trail who showed their commitment in 2011 by contributing pro-bono The Parks & Trails Council trans- legal expertise: Jeff Benson, Fredrickson & Byron; Kathleen Con- ferred 10 acres of land to Goodhue nelly; Andy Jacobson and Marty Fallon, Maslon Edelman Borman Pioneer State Trail resulting in & Brand; Dave Magnuson, Magnuson Law Firm; and Ken Rowe, almost a mile of added trail. Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly. 5 Government Relations THE PARKS & TRAILS COUNCIL OF MINNESOTA’S ability to effectively communicate the needs of the state’s park and trail systems and its users to legislators and government officials has made it the preeminent voice for parks and trails throughout Minnesota and at the Capitol.