Voyageurs National Park Association
Promoting Minnesota’s Best Kept Secret
Friends groups play an important role in planning, developing, maintaining and advocating for Minnesota’s parks and trails. The following Question and Answer features one such organization – Voyageurs National Park Association. Voyageurs National Park is located about 15 miles east of International Falls on Minnesota's Canadian border.
Q: Tell us about the Voyageurs National Park Association and the work you do?
Voyageurs National Park Association (VNPA) was formed in 1965 to establish Voyageurs National Park. That vision became a reality in 1975. VNPA continues as the primary citizen support and advocacy group for the park. Our mission is to protect and promote the natural, recreational, and historic resources of Voyageurs National Park.
Q: What things are you currently working on?
One of our greatest challenges is the inadequate funding to maintain visitor services and protect the park’s resources. Voyageurs is currently running almost $500,000 short of what it needs to keep its visitor centers open, campsites clean, and its trails safe and well-groomed. This critical budget shortfall is expected to grow to $1.2 million annually by 2011. In response, we have been meeting with elected officials to encourage greater funding for our national parks. We also provide direct support to the park with financial contributions and by organizing volunteer events and programs to help fill some of the budget gaps.
The other big initiative that we want to talk about is our success in working with the Parks & Trails Council to recently acquire one of the 55 private inholdings in the park. The property was the highest land acquisition priority for the park because of its high visibility to visitors entering the park from Rainy Lake. Acquiring land that goes up for sale is critical because the park has no authority over how private lands within the park are managed.
Q: If you had to reveal Voyageurs National Park's best kept secret what would it be?
The entire Voyageurs National Park itself is Minnesota’s best-kept secret. But those who do know about the park know it as a water-based park, so the Cruiser Lake Trail system in the park’s interior is one of the park’s best-kept secrets. The trails run across the Kabetogama Peninsula from Rainy Lake to Kabetogama Lake connecting interior lakes within the park. They are great trails that pass over rock outcrops overlooking beaver dams and lakes. It is a wild place and there is so much solitude because the trails are very seldom used for backpacking.
Q: What winter trail experiences are available to Voyageurs National Park visitors?
There are eight miles of groomed ski trails in the park – the most stunning of which is probably the Black Bay ski trail. There are also five miles of tracked snowshoe trails and the 24-mile ungroomed KabAsh Trail that can be used for skiing or snowshoeing. Because the land at Voyageurs consists of rock ridges interspersed with beaver dams and lakes, winter really is the best time to see the backcountry of the park because when the conditions are right the adventurous can essentially cut their own trail.
Q: How can people get involved with the Voyageurs National Park Association?
People can get involved with VNPA by becoming a member or by volunteering their time. For more information about membership and/or volunteer opportunities, please visit our Web site at www.voyageurs.org or contact us by phone at 612-333-5424.