Minnesota state parks changing, but most important things stay the same

Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·4 min read

Aug. 25—NEW LONDON

— Minnesota's state parks have changed quite a bit from the days when most overnight visitors pitched a tent rather than rolled in with a camper or recreational vehicle, but some things remain the same.

No. 1: State parks remain very popular with their visitors, as

a recently released study of visitors in 2022

made clear for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. It found that 96% were satisfied with their visits, and 98% would recommend the park they visited to friends or family.

The study was based on state park data and input from more than 2,000 visitors to the state's 75 parks and recreation areas, according to information from the DNR.

Highlights of the study included the economic impact of parks. The average park visitor will spend $67 per day. The overall economic activity around the parks totaled $688 million in 2021. The overall economic activity from parks supports over 5,100 jobs.

There are wide differences in the parks, and some differences between the parks in the northern portions of the state versus the southern region. The

southern region includes parks

in the West Central Tribune area, such as Sibley, Big Stone, Lac qui Parle, Glacial Lakes and the Upper Sioux Agency State Park.

Visitors from the southern region were more likely to have a fishing license or boat registration than other visitors. The southern region saw higher levels of satisfaction with lack of disturbances by other park visitors.

Visitors to parks in the southern region came to relax more so than those in northern parks.

The biggest difference of all is economic. The parks in the northeastern region of the state were responsible for $377 million of the total economic activity, as compared to $69 million in the southern region.

One thing they had in common: Thirty-three percent of the visitors welcomed to southern parks in 2022 were first-time visitors, almost identical to the percent of first-time visitors in northern parks.

The survey did not parse out differences in individual parks, according to Darin Newman, principal planner with the DNR's Parks and Trails Division. But he pointed to data from Streetlight Data assembled for the

Minnesota Parks and Trails Council

in 2021 that offers some insights.

The DNR has been successful overall in its efforts to welcome more visitors who are Black, Indigenous or other people of color. Statewide the percent of visitors who are Black, Indigenous or other people of color rose from 5% in 2017 to 11%, according to the survey.

This region's most popular park, Sibley, is also seeing success in this regard. Information from the 2021 data assembled for the Parks and Trails Council showed the percent of Black, Hispanic and visitors describing themselves of more than one race closely mirrored the statewide averages for each.

At Lac qui Parle State Park, the percent of Black visitors at 2.1% is below the statewide average of 6.9%. Hispanic or Latinx park users represent 6.3% of visitors, and those identifying with more than one race represent 6.8%, or percentages above the statewide averages of 6.1 % and 4.1% respectively for those groups.

Sibley State Park hosted 210,215 visitors in 2021 and 213,048 in 2020, according to the Parks and Trails report. Lac qui Parle showed numbers ranging from 46,427 to more than 56,000 in 2021 and 2020. Counts at Glacial Lakes ranged from 40,466 to 43,606, and those at the Upper Sioux Agency from 19,940 to 20,002, during the years 2021 and 2020.

Of course, what really matters for visitors is what brings them to the parks in the first place. Whether overnight or day visitors, 95% of the survey respondents cited a park's natural setting as "very important" to their state park experience.

The top three activities at the parks include hiking and walking (81%), observing and photography (57%) and sight seeing (51%). Camping followed those activities at 17%, and fishing, canoeing and paddling were at 10%.

The survey found that 89% of visitors believe they received a "good value" for the cost of their entry. Given the opportunity to indicate what improvements they'd like to see, more trails, signs for guidance, and improvements to the camping experience and the reservation system were cited.