Enhancing Minnesota State Parks and Minnesota State Forests Outdoor Winter Activities
The Division of Parks and Trails is providing expanded cross-country ski, snowshoe and other winter activities in Minnesota state parks and recreation areas; Minnesota state trails; and Minnesota state forests. The division is re-establishing trails that had been closed due to a lack of funding; enhanced a number of existing facilities by brushing, mowing or improving trail condition prior to snowfall. The division has also enhanced existing facilities by maintaining additional parking lots or staging areas and, in the case of trails, by providing winter grooming.
The Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Trails, efforts to expand winter activity has focused on ensuring the highest-demand facilities are safe and groomed, and that the facilities are open so visitors have a positive winter experience. The second part of this effort is to re-establish the most popular ski trails in Minnesota state forests that have been closed due to funding priorities and once again have the trails mapped, signed and groomed so the public has opportunities for quality outdoor recreation close to home.---------
Provide access to an additional 150 kilometers of safe and well-maintained winter trails located close to population centers. , Increase level of service on most-used ski trails within the Minnesota State Parks system which totals to 778 kilometers of trails.
Approximately 60 percent of the trails identified as a priority has been opened and re-established so far. , Service levels have increased by 35 percent in tier one ski parks in the Minnesota State Parks system representing the 17 most-used park ski facilities and totaling 451 kilometers to date.