Trail Builder Henry Somsen

This Outdoorsman is a real state treasure

Though he admits he's slowing down these days, 97-year-old Henry Somsen has spent more than half-a-century building and supporting dozens of Minnesota parks, trails and wildlife management areasBehind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Q & A feature on one such Trail Builder -- Henry Somsen.

The New Ulm native has dedicated most of his life to protecting our natural, historical and cultural resources assuring that future generations would have access to the same quality of life that he has experienced. An attorney who practiced law from 1934 to 1986, Henry has generously donated his legal skill and personal wealth to preserving our Minnesota outdoor way of life. He recently sat down with Minnesota Trails magazine to answer a few questions.

Q: You've been working to build parks and trails for more than 50 years. What motivates you and what are some of your favorite projects?
Working with the Parks & Trails Council to protect and support Minnesota's parks and trails is one of the most satisfying volunteer experiences I've ever had in my life. I was particularly happy about the founding of Afton State Park in 1969. That was a wonderful project. I remember several of us from the Minnesota Parks Foundation (now the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota) met down there and we were up on a hill and you could see for miles in any direction. It was absolutely beautiful land. Sam Morgan, who was head of Parks & Trails, told us this land could be purchased for $500 an acre and made into a park. I said lets grab it. I was also very enthusiastic about Grand Portage State Park on the North Shore at the Canadian border. It had incredible natural resources and the beautiful Pigeon Falls. I felt we did the right thing there in buying that land because that was a marvelous park to preserve.

Q: You first got involved with what is now called the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota in 1955. Why did you invest so much time and energy in establishing this organization?
We found that if we were going to build parks and trails we had to have the means of not letting opportunities to buy critical pieces of land for state parks slip away from us. We knew that if a developer stood on the same hill where our group stood before we built Afton and saw that wonderful property with that marvelous view he could have put a golf course in there with homes all around it and made millions. We decided that we had to have a foundation with enough financial resources to hold down a piece of land worthy of being a state park until the Legislature had time to approve the purchase. We held on to that land at Afton for a number of years. These things take time.

Q: In 2001, Gov. Ventura honored you as being one of 50 Minnesotans of all-time who has made the most valuable contributions to the state's Wildlife Management Areas. How did you get interested in this aspect of conservation?
While I was on a vacation in Wales I visited a pond that had a game observation blind. You could walk up to the blind and watch the waterfowl without them knowing you were there. The blind was very popular with the public. When I got home I wrote our DNR and asked why don't you have something like this? They came back and said good idea - how about some money to make it happen? So I got started. My first one was at Maplewood State Park. After that the DNR convinced me to do a little more. There was a 40-acre wetland within Maplewood Park that needed restoring, so I helped with that. That wetland now produces ducks and various aquatic birds. I also helped fund a floating blind at Glendalough State Park. You can actually walk right out into the lake.

The Parks & Trails Council has many Trail Builder stories of people giving their time, talents and resources to build parks and trails. A contribution to Parks & Trails helps energize and train more trail builders, and preserve and protect special places for generations to come.