National Park Week 2022: sPark Connections
Spend National Park Week (April 16-24) learning about all six national park sites in Minnesota and start planning your warm-weather adventures.
Saturday, April 16: sPark Discovery - Fee Free Day
The week of festivities officially begins with an entrance fee-free day, when all national parks are free of charge. The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area is free year-round, although some partner parks, museums and historical sites within the MNRRA boundaries require parking passes or charge admission fees.
BARK Ranger Day
Learn how you and your dog can keep the ecosystem at Coldwater Spring healthy. To become a BARK Ranger and receive a free dog tag, you will learn about the history of the site, go on a walking tour with national park staff, and swear in as an official BARK Ranger. It's a fun and inclusive solution to help dogs and their owners enjoy the park while keeping it safe through stewardship.
There are a number of dog parks within the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area where your pet may run loose. Here are a few sites that offer dog-friendly facilities. Make sure to familiarize yourself with each park's pet policies.
Petiquette:
Dogs are permitted at Coldwater Spring provided they are on a leash no longer than 6 feet (2 meters).
Other partner parks and areas within MNRRA borders may have additional restrictions.
Off-leash pets threaten the safety of local wildlife and can cause damage to sensitive ecosystems.
Please pick up after your dogs.
Remember that not all people like dogs. Off-leash dogs—even friendly dogs—may alarm other visitors.
Sunday, April 17: sPark Creativity
National parks have inspired artistic expression and creativity for generations. What is your park muse? What masterpiece can you create?
Big River Art Contest
The Big River Art Contest accepts admissions from February through early June each year ! Teachers can encourage students to interpret their river learning experiences through art and enter the contest as individuals or teachers can make it a whole class project. The winning art will be displayed at two major Twin Cities attractions: Fort Snelling State Park and Mill City Museum. Winners will also be honored at the Big River Awards in July. Past winners have used poems, piecework, pastels, collages, sketches, pointillism, and more. Art must be submitted by early June. Visit the website for more information about the categories, official rules, and ideas to get started. Questions? Contact Ranger Abby Olson, abigail_olson@nps.gov.
Partner Spotlight: Mississippi Watershed Management Organization
Mississippi River Stories is a collection of work created by 15 different artists. Each piece is based on a river story collected from around the MWMO watershed by University of St. Thomas students in partnership with the Sustainable Communities Partnership and the Natural Heritage Project.
The exhibit is on display from April 18 to June 6, 2022.
Join MWMO at the Stormwater Park and Learning Center for an informal open house for the Mississippi River Stories exhibit. Meet the artists and learn more about the student research that inspired the artwork.
Monday, April 18: sPark Collaboration
Nearly every national park in the country has a friends group or co-op that gives monetary, programming, staffing and/or operational support. Friends groups are vital to the daily operations of the park as well as providing supplemental programming and funding where the government budget falls short. Mississippi Park Connection works side by side with the National Park Service to bring educational programming, environmental stewardship opportunities, and fun events to the community surrounding the park. You, too, can help support your park and these programs with a donation!
Tuesday, April 19: sPark Innovation
The National Park Service incorporates the latest technology to support conservation and preservation efforts while consistently working to improve the visitor experience. Have you checked out the new National Park Service app?
The NPS App is the new official app for the National Park Service with tools to explore more than 400 national parks nationwide. Find interactive maps, tours of park places, on-the-ground accessibility information, and much more to plan your national park adventures before and during your trip.
A community science effort to better understand beavers
Mississippi Park Connection and the National Park Service need help finding beavers and beaver activity along the Mississippi River. Learning more about beavers and their behavior will inform our understanding of floodplain forests in the national park and our efforts to maintain and restore habitat. If you spot beaver activity along the Mississippi River or nearby parks, please fill out this survey. It only takes a few minutes to complete and is invaluable data for our resource management team! If you spot more than one type of beaver activity, please submit separate surveys for each observation.
Wednesday, April 20: sPark Opportunities
On Workforce Wednesday, learn about the work we do and the employment opportunities available in the National Park Service and Mississippi Park Connection.
Thursday, April 21: sPark Preservation
The National Park Service is a leader and partner in preservation of historic, cultural, natural and recreational resources nationally. Learn how you can get involved with outdoor volunteer opportunities:
The Riverfront Restoration Crew meets weekly through early spring at Riverfront Regional Park, just south of I-694 on the east side of the river in Fridley. Activities will include vegetation removal (primarily buckthorn) and site exploration.
Help us take care of the floodplain forest! The Crosby Crew meets regularly at Crosby Farm Regional Park, which hosts the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change study—a long-term research project aimed at helping our forests become more resilient.
Friday, April 22: sPark Action
On Earth Day we look at the health of the environment and how we impact its wellbeing and vice versa. What actions can you do to contribute to a healthy world?
Sign up for the Saint Paul Citywide Cleanup on Saturday, April 23.
Clean up the river corridor during the City of Saint Paul’s 35th annual citywide spring cleanup. This year we are assisting Lower Phalen Creek Project with crews at Indian Mounds Regional Park and Wakáŋ Tipi / Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary in partnership with the City of Saint Paul. Wakáŋ Tipi and Indian Mounds Regional Park are places of vital importance to the Dakota tribal nations and community members. This is your chance to help nurture and protect these spaces.
Saturday, April 23: sPark Curiosity
Celebrate Junior Ranger Day by learning to identify trees and screen printing your own leaf poster! Complete 1-2 activities to earn a Junior Ranger badge. Complete 3 or more activities to earn a Junior Ranger patch, while supplies last.
The National Park Service preserves and protects unique places with fascinating stories and unique landscapes. What are you curious about?
Sunday, April 24: sPark Memories
Visitors have created lasting memories in national parks. What memories and traditions will you create?
Paddle Share: This is a self-serve kayak sharing system in the Twin Cities metro area that lets you rent a boat and paddle to a destination downriver, or explore Pickerel Lake in Saint Paul! The season runs from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September.
Paddle With A Ranger: The National Park Service will host several paddling events throughout the summer for various levels of experience. Sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook to learn more and register.
Biking: There are hundreds of miles of bike paths and bike lanes crisscrossing all over Minneapolis and Saint Paul and following the natural paths created by rivers and lakes in the area. Nice Ride is a flexible, economical self-serve bike rental option for anyone who doesn’t own a bike!
St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center opens for the season on Memorial Day weekend with new hours and regular tours of the lock and dam in Minneapolis. Sign up for our newsletter to learn about upcoming events here and along the Mississippi River.
Discover Your MN National Parks
Minnesota has SIX national park sites!
Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
In 1988, this park was created to enhance the significant values of the waters and land of the Mississippi River corridor within the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The park extends for more than 70 miles along the river, running directly through a metropolitan area (the park corridor begins in Ramsey and Dayton and ends just south of Hastings). The park provides leadership, acting as a facilitator and coordinator, in promoting a common vision for river corridor management among 25 municipalities and numerous partner agencies and organizations, whose responsibilities intersect. Learn more at nps.gov/miss.
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway
The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway commemorated it’s 50th anniversary with this interactive scrolling story map that flows through 255 miles of the most scenic and least developed country in the Upper Midwest. Explore the different sections of the river, then plan your next adventure using one of the parks recommended trip itineraries.
The Namekagon River | The St. Croix Marshland | The Lower St. Croix
Voyageurs National Park
With 218,055 acres, Voyageurs National Park is an adventure wonderland all year long full of exposed rock ridges, cliffs, wetlands, forests, streams and lakes. This is a place of transition between land and aquatic ecosystems, between southern boreal and northern hardwood forests, and between wild and developed areas. Whether you are exploring by land, water or ice there is something for everyone. Find local guides and boat rentals.
North Country Scenic Trail
The North Country National Scenic Trail is the longest in the National Trails System, stretching 4,600 miles across eight states from North Dakota to Vermont.
From the leisurely lake walk of downtown Duluth to the rugged Sawtooth Mountains to the prairies of the Red River Valley to the gentle rolling Laurentian Divide, the North Country Trail offers a cache of contrasting hiking experiences across its roughly 850 miles in Minnesota. Historic marks include the remnants of iron mining along the Mesabi and Vermilion ranges, Native American historic sites, and remnants of Paul Bunyan’s white pine logging era. Plan your next big adventure.
Grand Portage National Monument
With a spectacular setting next to Lake Superior, Grand Portage National Monument, entirely within Grand Portage Indian Reservation, is rich in natural and cultural history. The Park protects two depots of the North West Company, the main depot on Lake Superior and the site of Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River. The 8.5 mile Grand Portage trail connects the depots and contains most of the acreage of the Monument.
Pipestone National Monument
Indigenous people have come to this site for more than 3,000 years in order to quarry a soft stone that they use to make pipes (hence the name 'pipestone'). The pipe is sacred to many Indigenous people who use it for prayer, important rites, and to conduct both civil and religious ceremonies. The site is still actively quarried today by Indigenous people enrolled in federally recognized tribes.
Pipestone National Monument, by virtue of its protected status, has some of the only native tallgrass prairie habitat left in America. Many plants can be seen close up along the Circle Trail and viewed as a stunning mosaic from the road. Over 500 species of plants occur at the Monument, including one federally threatened species (the Western prairie-fringed orchid) and nearly a dozen state-listed rare species. Explore the park’s list of unique and rare flora and fauna.