This stunning landscape has become a mecca for outdoor adventures: mountain biking, paved-trail bicycling, kayaking, swimming, and scuba diving. It wasn’t always that way. Between 1900 and 1950, Cuyuna was an industrial mine site, and by 1980, it was abandoned. The deep pits filled with water, and the forest grew back. With vision and persistence, it has become a natural playground.
Before Cuyuna Country SRA was established in 1993, this parcel was acquired with the thought that it could expand and provide a buffer for the city-owned Croft Mine Historical Park. This park is now part of the SRA with a museum and tours of part of the mine.
We understood both the importance of acquiring this land for the immediate use for the city park as well as providing an overlook to view Portsmouth Mine Lake. But it also provided encouragement for the future development of this area into an SRA. At that point discussions and interest had already begun on the vision for the SRA.
This was one small but symbolically important parcel in the future development of the SRA.
At the time the private campgound along Portsmouth Mine Lake went up for sale, the SRA was still largely undeveloped. Realizing the importance of offering Cuyuna Country visitors the opportunity to camp during their visit, we worked to acquire the campground for the park.
The campground orginally had 34 sites on Portsmouth Lake. The DNR reconfigured the campground so that today there are 25 sites, of which 18 have electricity. There’s also a group campsite and a swimming beach.
We worked in partnership with the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail Association to acquire easements from three landowners. Theses easements allowed the trail to be built and connect into the town of Riverton.
Land acquired for a trailhead with parking.
These two parcels were negotiated with private landowners. Combined with land owned by the MNDNR and the city, it enables the construction of a segment of the Cuyuna State Trail between the Riverton Trailhead and the Sagamore Unit at Cuyuna Country SRA. Without this otherwise would have required a half mile along the Highway.