Charles A. Lindbergh State Park

The Parks & Trails Council exists to assure that critical lands are accessible to the public to enjoy now and in the future. That is why the council had to act quickly when it learned that the organization that had worked for 16 years to develop what is now the Little Elk Heritage Preserve was having financial trouble and could no longer manage the property.

That group, the Institute for Minnesota Archeology (IMA), asked Parks & Trails if it could help transfer ownership and management of the property to another agency that could assure its continued existence as a heritage preserve.

Parks & Trails immediately began working on purchasing the land while simultaneously seeking a public agency to take over its operation. The obvious choice was the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), who was already managing land adjacent to the preserve. The DNR began managing Little Elk as part of Charles A. Lindbergh State Park in 2007.

"The Parks & Trails Council came to the rescue like Paul Revere galloping in and providing an answer," said Chuck Stone, one of the founders of the Friends of the Lindbergh Heritage, a nonprofit group that will help the DNR with the operation of the preserve. "They had the finances to buy it and get it in the hands of a different agency that could keep this special place accessible. The Parks & Trails Council deserves a great deal of credit."

The Little Elk Heritage Preserve is a 93-acre archaeological and nature park at the confluence of the Little Elk and Mississippi rivers about two miles north of the City of Little Falls. In addition to its significant natural features, Little Elk Heritage Preserve also contains numerous archaeological sites that reflect human interactions with local resources and ecosystems dating back thousands of years. The preserve also contains a one-mile looped hiking trail that will soon allow visitors to once again see and learn about such archaeological sites as a 1700s French fur-trading post, an 1800s Ojibwe Mission and a settlement called Elk City to name a few. The trail and a self-guided walking tour that were developed by the IMA are great additions to the state park system. In fact, Chuck Stone and the Friends of the Lindbergh Heritage have even designed a study guide for student groups to use when they begin returning to the site for field trips.

The Friends of the Lindbergh Heritage is a nonprofit community organization devoted to preserving and enhancing Charles A. Lindbergh State Park, the Lindbergh State Historic Site and the Little Elk Heritage Preserve.

"Of the three entities that our friends group supports, the one that will create the most fireworks and the most interest is bringing the Little Elk Heritage Preserve back to life," said Stone.