Minnesota

The Trust for Public Land is working with the state Department of Natural Resources to protect 128 acres of Blakeley Bluffs as an addition to the Ney Wildlife Management Area.

The Trust for Public Land led the effort to transform a 27-acre industrial site located in St. Paul's East Side into a park and nature sanctuary in honor of late Congressman Bruce Vento.

TPL helped project Camp Ojiketa, a popular camp area, as a regional park, owned and managed by Chisago City.

Artists Anthony and Cheryl Caponi created a unique "art park" on their 60 acres of rolling meadows and woodlands in the Twin Cities suburb of Eagan, Minnesota.

The Trust for Public Land helped create a new conservation area in northeast Anoka County—providing sport hunters with a new outdoor resource just 20 minutes from the Twin Cities

In fall of 2011, The Trust for Public Land conveyed 510 acres near the headwaters of the Cannon River to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which will be managed as the new Dora Lake Wildlife Management Area.

Conservationists had been keeping a close watch on the nearly 50 acres overlooking the St. Croix River valley and the village of Franconia, when TPL stepped in to work with partners in the Metro Conservation Corridors program, which protects natural areas and water quality in the rapidly developing metro region in Chisago County.

In 2013 The Trust for Public Land protected Gaul Island as an addition to the Burntside Islands Scientific and Natural Area. Like Long Island, which we helped protect in 2008, the island is part of the viewshed from Sigurd Olson's historic Listening Point.

Since the 1980s, public agencies and recreationists have sought to improve public access to Lake Minnetonka, a popular boating and fishing lake 15 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. Several years ago, the owner of the private Gray's Bay Marina and Resort decided to retire.

This property is situated within the artic watershed just a few miles south of the Canadian border and surrounded by the Boundary Waters, the most visited wilderness area in the country. After more than a decade of work with The Trust for Public Land, and with funding from the Leuthold Wilderness Foundation, Jim and Judy Brandenburg created an iconic place for all when they protected this unbroken stretch of hundreds of acres of wild land surrounding beautiful Judd Lake.

The Trust for Public Land is working to protect 43 acres wedged between Kremer Lake and the Edge of the Wilderness Scenic Byway in the heart of northern Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest.

TPL worked with the state and local partners to secure funding that ensures the permanent protection of Lester Lake in Minnesota's North Woods.

In partnership with several other conservation organizations, The Trust for Public Land is working to permanently protect high-quality habitat for fish and wildlife along the Mississippi, Minnesota, and St. Croix rivers and their tributaries in the Twin Cities region. In addition to safeguarding the diversity of native ecosystems, this work will beautify the built environment, provide close-to-home access to natural places for Twin Cities residents, create natural connections between neighborhoods, and make the Twin Cities more resilient to severe weather driven by climate change. A few recently protected lands are an addition to the Savage Fen Scientific and Natural Area and the Blakeley Bluffs addition to the Ney Wildlife Management Area—both in Scott County, only 30 miles south of the Twin Cities.

In the 400 miles below its origin at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River provides habitat for fish and other wildlife, hosts annual waves of migratory waterfowl, and is a favorite destination for hunting, fishing, birding, boating, and hiking. Much of the land along this stretch of the river is privately owned and subject to development or conversion to agriculture. The Trust for Public Land is working with landowners and communities to protect and preserve sensitive shoreline throughout the headwaters region, including around reservoirs and tributaries, helping to preserve high-quality habitat and recreation areas in the headwaters of our nation’s largest river.

TPL helped protect Nisswa Lake, part of the 13,000-acre Gull Lake Chain, a popular fishing, boating, and swimming destination in the central part of the state.

Our Parks for People program protects land in communities throughout Minnesota.

Native Dakota people once performed ceremonies on this hill overlooking the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in the Twin Cities suburb of Mendota Heights.

TPL helped add land to the Pipestone National Monument, a unit of the National Park Service that protects archaeological resources and natural features such as Winnewissa Falls on Pipestone Creek.

The region around St. Cloud holds some of the fastest growing communities in Minnesota. At the edge of this sprawling region, Quarry Park and Nature Preserve offers rich history, diverse resources, and a variety of recreational activities, including SCUBA diving, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, and trout fishing.

When Harold and Doris Sabo approached retirement, they decided to sell their 2,500-acre Clearwater County farm bordering the Red Lake Chippewa Reservation in northern Minnesota.

The distinctive “driftless” region of southeast Minnesota is characterized by forests and prairies threaded by wandering trout streams and the Mississippi, Root, Whitewater, Zumbro, and Cannon rivers. Although this blufflands region is rich in wildlife habitat and recreation potential, only 5 percent is protected and open for public use. In partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Minnesota Land Trust, The Trust for Public Land is working to create and expand conservation areas in the blufflands, to protect important wildlife habitat, and to improve access to recreation across this singular region.

TPL helped protect the Sugar Hills property, which contains a popular ski trail system, clear water creeks, a 14-acre lake, and "Big Thunder Peak," one of the state's highest named summits.

Within a half-hour's drive of St. Paul, the 475-acre site known as Vermillion Empire View offers a host of opportunities for outdoor recreation.