Field Notes: Crow Wing Grows

Ninety-six acres of Mississippi River frontage rich with oak and pine trees have been added to the natural resources gem that is Crow Wing State Park.

Voyageurs in canoes filled with pelts once paddled this stretch of the Mississippi River. Missionaries followed, building modest churches and marking history with cemetery stones. By 1848 loggers arrived at the Crow Wing settlement and began a transformation of the landscape.

Crow Wing State Park, established in 1959 and now comprising 2,871 acres, slowed landscape changes within the park boundaries. Outside the park, however, development pressures continue. The park's new river frontage, formerly owned by Potlatch Corp., might have become prime home sites were it not for Potlatch, The Conservation Fund—a national conservation organization that forges partnerships to preserve America's outdoor heritage—and the DNR.

The park, nine miles south of Brainerd, is on the edge of the central lakes region. Preservation of such pristine parcels is a timely pursuit in such rapidly developing places. However, funding issues often prevent the DNR from acting quickly enough to acquire available land before it is forever lost to private development. That is where conservation groups and even businesses like Potlatch can enter the picture.

"Once it's gone, it's gone," says park manager Paul Roth. "This is an especially pretty piece, with oak and pine and high banks overlooking the river."

Undeveloped land is critical habitat for wildlife, Roth says. The new parcel will help complete a contiguous wildlife corridor along the river through the park to the adjacent 53,000-acre Camp Ripley Military Reservation.

The park also plans to add pedestrian/bicycle and snowmobile trails, including one that will likely link to the Paul Bunyan State Trail. Plans call for that state trail to run more than 100 miles northwest to Lake Bemidji State Park.

The signature of the Paul Bunyan trail is woods and waters, and "this acquisition will greatly enhance that with magnificent views of the river," says volunteer trail coordinator Terry McGaughey. "I predict this trail section, when developed, will become one of its most popular segments."

"As time goes on and Brainerd keeps developing," Roth says, "people will really treasure this property as an oasis?a place to enjoy nature and the outdoors."

The Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota recently acquired another 78-acre parcel for Crow Wing State Park, along the east bank of the Mississippi River.

Scott Pengelly, DNR news editor