Grow the Land Fund Goal Reached!

When P&TC’s Land Fund was stretched to its max with recent land acquisitions, we reached out to our members to ask for help in funding this critical tool. And you all responded in force to ensure P&TC’s work of acquiring land for parks and trails continues. Thank you!

Back in October 2020, we set the goal of raising $400,000 to Grow the Land Fund. After about a year of fundraising, including diverting our usual end-of-year general fundraising efforts toward this important goal, on Sept. 6, 2021 the goal was reached. Now, we are able to continue pursuing critical land acquisitions that would have been out of reach without this community support. 

The Grow the Land Fund Campaign was prompted by our ambitious $1.85 million project to secure a rare, forested peninsula for Lake Shetek State Park in October 2020. That project remains a top priority as we work with the landowners, the Boy Scouts, to complete the necessary due diligence before taking ownership. While the process is taking longer than we may have wished, work remains steady and the path forward is clear with the goal of adding this land to park on track. 

Meanwhile, thanks to the generous donations to the Land Fund, P&TC has been able to engage in timely discussions with other landowners to save special places for parks and trails across Minnesota. It is an exciting time for P&TC’s land acquisition efforts and we look forward to sharing the details on these projects as soon as the land is secured. 

Our work at P&TC is founded in the knowledge that land is essential and enduring. Once it’s acquired it will remain a treasured place for generations, but if the opportunity is missed, it could be lost to the public forever. That is why we invest substantial resources into this work—because it endures.

Our Samuel H. Morgan Land Fund was named in honor of a leader who shared this value and invested decades of time and energy to ensure Parks & Trails Council was well positioned to perpetuate this work into the future. The Land Fund is powerful, in part because it acts as a revolving fund. This means any money that is spent to buy land is returned to the Fund once that land is sold to the park or trail. Essentially, money within the Land Fund gets used over and over again.