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The making of a regional park

Big Marine set to open next summer for swimming, picnics

It has been a long wait — more than three decades. But starting next summer, swimmers, hikers and picnickers will be able to enjoy Big Marine Park Reserve in northern Washington County.

At a slow, deliberate pace the county has acquired about 640 of the eventual 1,920 acres it hopes will become part of the park reserve. Now that the county has assembled a critical mass of contiguous parcels on or near the lake, development is rapidly moving forward. Features will include:

• A boat launch
• Hiking trails 
• A swimming beach and beach building
• Picnic and play areas
• Roads and parking areas
• A park office building

A park reserve on Big Marine Lake was proposed soon after the regional park system was created in 1974, and has been included in each of the Metropolitan Council’s regional parks policy plans since. The Council approved a master plan for the park reserve in 1988.  

Two decades later, the park is getting ready for its official opening day. For fans of the park, the wait has been worth it.

“In my mind, the land needed to be set aside for the enjoyment of people in generations to come, not cut up into private, five-acre parcels for only a few to enjoy,” said Maggie Vogel-Martin, member of the Washington County Parks Commission from 1997-2006. 

“The land is really beautiful, and it’s a big lake that’s great for boating, fishing and swimming,” she said. In addition, a large part of the park will be left in its natural state, providing areas for “more gentle uses,” she said, like hiking and bird-watching.  

How regional parks are created

Regional parks have a variety of origins. Some regional parks – like Minnehaha Falls – were functioning as city or county parks long before they were brought into the regional park system in 1974. Other county parks – like Tony Schmidt in Ramsey County – have been given regional status more recently.

In other cases, the opportunity to create a park comes when the owner of hundreds of acres of undeveloped land with excellent natural resource features decides to sell. Doyle-Kennefick Regional Park in Scott County, which won’t be developed for several years, is a good example.

Yet another way a regional park is created is that the Council identifies a search area for a new park based on geographic need and the natural resources in the area. A site search is conducted, and a potential park area is identified. A few large parcels makes future acquisition easier than many smaller parcels, said Arne Stefferud, parks planning analyst for the Council.

Whenever a site for a new park is identified, the next step is that the county in which the park is located creates a park acquisition master plan, which establishes the park boundaries and the parcels that will eventually, it is hoped, be purchased for the park. Once the Council approves the plan, purchase can begin.

Getting ready for development

As Washington County gradually purchased land for Big Marine Park Reserve, existing homes and cabins on the properties that were in decent condition were rented out, as were farm fields for planting and harvesting. The county continued to operate a small boat launch that had been part of the former Shady Birch Resort. Eventually, enough parcels were assembled to make park development possible.

In order for development to begin, houses were either purchased and moved (the county’s preference) or, if no buyers came forward, the structures were demolished, explained John Elholm, parks director for the county. Septic systems were removed and wells were sealed and capped.

Land restoration is also part of park development. Along the lakeshore at Big Marine, native shoreland plants and grasses have been planted to prevent erosion, filter runoff and restore the shoreland to pre-settlement conditions. In later development phases, some farm fields will be gradually restored to native prairie or woodlands.

Why some lands and not others?

Regional parks and trails fill a niche in the overall scheme of parks in the Twin Cities area, which ranges from small, city neighborhood parks to national parks, such as the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The Council’s 2030 Regional Parks Policy Plan notes that regional parks emphasize high-quality natural resources, major special features, activities that tend to require large areas of land or water, and park lands that often extend into several political jurisdictions.

The Council has three main criteria for siting regional parks and park reserves, according to Glen Skovholt, chair of the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission. The commission advises the Council on parks matters. The criteria are:

• Land (and water) that has qualities that make it most desirable for outdoor recreation.
• Geographic distribution – parks should be evenly distributed around the seven-county region, or in proportion to existing and forecasted development.
• Land that represents and protects a particular landscape type or important natural resource feature.

Big Marine Park Reserve meets all three criteria. The lake is recognized as a tremendous natural and recreational resource. The land inside the park reserve boundary is part of the St. Croix ground moraine landscape type, one of eight landscape types identified for protection in the regional park system plan. And its location helps add geographic balance to the regional park system, which especially in its first decades tended to favor the west and southwest portion of the region, Stefferud said.

Why does regional status matter?

Parks with regional status are eligible for state and regional funds for acquisition and development, as well as state funding that covers a small share of the annual operating and maintenance costs.  

The first phase of development at Big Marine is estimated to cost $3,000,000. Washington County issued bonds to cover the cost, but is eligible for reimbursement consideration from the Council in a future regional parks capital improvement program. Longer term, the county plans to build both individual and group camping facilities near the lake, as well as additional trails. But because Big Marine is a park reserve, 80% of the eventual 1,920 acres will remain undeveloped.

Future park acquisition

The Council’s regional parks plan calls for an expansion of the parks system to meet the needs of the region’s growing population:

• Designating two existing county parks and three trails as “regional” (already accomplished).
• Acquiring and developing three news parks. Search areas include northwestern Anoka County, Empire Township in Dakota County, and Blakeley Township in Scott County.
• Acquire and develop seven new trails.

To meet the needs of the region beyond 2030, the Council also proposes to acquire four new regional parks or reserves and three new trails. These parks would not be developed until after 2030, but the opportunity to acquire them will likely be lost if the lands aren’t identified and purchased before 2030.

The 2007 Minnesota Legislature gave the Council the authority to create a nonprofit foundation to raise private funds to supplement public funding for regional park acquisition. The Council is exploring alternative models from around the country.