Meet the Friends of Glacial Lakes State Park
Labor of love
Friends groups play an important role in planning, developing, maintaining and advocating for Minnesota's parks and trails. The following is a Q & A feature of one such group - the Friends of Glacial Lakes State Park. Glacial Lakes State Park is located in Starbuck, Minnesota.
Q: Who are the Friends Glacial Lakes State Park and what do you do?
The Friends of Glacial Lakes State Park is made up of area individuals who are interested in keeping Glacial Lakes State Park financially sound and user friendly. We organized in 2003 when the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was cutting back its services to smaller parks to help meet its constrained budget. Our goal is to help Glacial Lakes State Park increase its revenue stream by making the park more user friendly while building public awareness of the amenities the park has to offer.
Q: What projects are you working on or have you recently completed?
The Friends of Glacial Lakes State Park just finished raising money for and building a 12-foot by 18-foot log cabin as part of our organized effort to increase revenue for the park. The DNR hired a building supervisor to oversee volunteer construction of the cabin that was manufactured locally by Pierce Log Homes of Pelican Rapids. The park now has two log cabins. The first cabin was built in 2003 and it has a 90 percent occupancy rate. Park visitors have already asked to reserve this second cabin, so it is proving to be a great investment in the park.
Q: What special events do you have planned?
One of the goals of the DNR is to restore as much as possible the original habitat at Glacial Lakes State Park. One of the greatest threats to indigenous species is the Buckthorn plant. The park service has worked extremely hard to eradicate the plant in the park. Because we have met our eradication goal, the DNR and the Friends of Glacial Lakes State Park are organizing a celebration in the park from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 9 that will feature live music, tours, dedications, Buckthorn burning, food vendors and merchandise vendors. For more information about the celebration, please call the park at 320-239-2860.
Q: What else should people know about the Friends of Glacial Lakes State Park?
We are a friendly group of individuals that would like Glacial Lakes State Park to remain open to the public year round. We sincerely want the public to come enjoy the great amenities at our park and our region of the state. We are aware that park campers and general visitors add to the total revenue of local area communities.