Friends Groups

June 13, 2015

Harmony-Preston Valley: Trail Extension

This bill authorizes the DNR to extend the Preston-Harmony State Trail to the Iowa border, with a connection to Niagara Cave.

June 2, 2015

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Grand Opening of Brown’s Creek State Trail

Saturday, June 6 from 9am - 1pm is the grand opening of the Brown's Creek State Trail. The celebration will include five naturalist stations along the trail with activities to learn about the natural resources. The ribbon cutting will begin at 10am at the Stillwater trailhead and will include speaches, kids activities and music.

May 24, 2015

Friends bring programs to this wooded wonder

The Friends of Lake Maria was officially organized in 1996, but their actual work began in 1992. That’s when the inaugural “March for the Parks” event began to raise money for programming at Lake Maria State Park.

Dramatic sunset over a marsh at Lake Maria State Park

February 26, 2015

Funding for Casey Jones State Trail

This bill would have appropriated $846,000 in bond proceeds for the continued development of the Casey Jones State Trail in southwestern Minnesota. Bill title: Casey Jones Trail funding provided, bonds issued, and money appropriated Bill Number: HF 641 & SF 581 House Authors: Schomacker; Hamilton; Swedzinski Senate …

December 9, 2014

Friends build a trail connecting Glendalough State Park to nearby Battle Lake

The small, northwestern Minnesota city of Battle Lake is undergoing a transformation. It is quickly becoming a bustling community with an abundance of people zipping along on two wheels. The impetus for this change: the Glendalough Trail. The new, hard-earned trail starts in downtown Battle …

bikers on trail through prairie with Glendalough Trail sign and Legacy sign

October 20, 2014

Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association

Parks & Trails Council is proud to partner with this independent friends group.Parks & Trails Council cannot accept donations on behalf of this friends group. Friends of the Casey Jones Trail Association Mission Advocate for the continued development of the trail. Friends Since Groundwork for the ...

September 21, 2014

Making a vital trail connection while restoring a prairie

So close, and yet so far. For years the 22-mile Glacial Lakes State Trail has been just five miles from the popular Sibley State Park. For bicyclists visiting the park, that’s five miles too many. In 2011 park supporters decided that connecting the Glacial …

The rolling grasslands with pond at Sibley State Park

June 4, 2014

Our park continues to grow

A $3.8 million, 164-acre acquisition successfully closed on June 5, 2014, bringing the park total to 721 acres. The purchase was made possible with $2.2 million in grant funding and additional match funding from Wright County and the City of Monticello.

October 1, 2013

Persistence in fulfilling the vision for a trail in southwestern Minnesota

Fast forward 46 years and you may be surprised to see that only 11 miles of the 110-mile trail corridor for the Casey Jones is paved and another 9.5 miles is natural surfaced. “You could look at it as not much done over 40 years, or you could look at it as a lifetime’s work,” explained Bruce Johnson, a board member for the Friends of Casey Jones Trail.

Casey Jones State Trail sign for Currie Loop

October 1, 2013

Making friends

The Friends of Nerstrand Big Woods State Park officially formed in September of this year. A driving force behind the creation of the new friends group was Emily Nesvold, a P&TCM board member and Northfield resident. “I saw the need for this group back in …

August 20, 2013

Friends of Minneopa State Park

Parks & Trails Council is proud to partner with this independent friends group.Parks & Trails Council cannot accept donations on behalf of this friends group. Friends of Minneopa State Park Mission Work with Minneopa State Park to preserve, manage, and promote the resources of the ...

June 1, 2013

Spurred to action to action by a threat

As is often the case with the formation of Friends Groups, it took the threat of development to spur organized action. For Minneopa, that threat was the National Guard, who had proposed building a firing range along the western border of the park. When local activist, Brand Frentz got word of the proposed firing range he realized

March 26, 2013

Friends of Wild River State Park

Parks & Trails Council is proud to partner with this independent friends group.Parks & Trails Council cannot accept donations on behalf of this friends group. Friends of Wild River State Park Mission A community organization devoted to preserving and enhancing the experience of Wild River ...

Group of volunteers by St. Croix River and garbage they cleaned up

December 1, 2012

Maple syrup brings friends together

The pancake breakfast just never goes out of style and, for the Friends of Wild River State Park, it’s a great annual fundraiser. The event drew about 75 people and raised nearly $1,700 for the group in 2012. Kacie Carlson, a naturalist at the park, said that …

October 1, 2012

Active friends for an active trail

The 200 members of the Gateway-Brown’s Creek Trail Association make up one of the most active Friends groups in the state, for good reason: The trail itself is the most heavily used trail in Minnesota. “We have volunteers that do everything from cleaning up the trail to lobbying for our share of bonding money with the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota,” said John Oldendorf, president of the trail association and a board member of the Parks & Trails Council. This association has worked hard to expand the trail. They credit their success with expansion to getting to know people and communities along the potential trail.