Happy 125th Birthday To Minnesota State Parks & Trails
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota State Parks and Trails are celebrating their quasquicentennial.
There will be special events held throughout the 2016 to honor 125 years of operation, and it all kicked off Friday afternoon at Fort Snelling State Park.
Fourth graders from Minneapolis' Northrop Urban Environmental Learning Center put on some snowshoes and trekked through the woods.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is encouraging visitors to log 125 miles by "Bike, Boot or Boat" at state parks and trails this year.
Lt. Gov. Tina Smith pledged to visit all 75 state parks. She quoted the head of the Centers for Disease Control on the health benefits of the parks.
"Physical activity is the closest thing we have to a wonder drug," Smith said. "And that's one of the reasons we have such incredible state parks, to have that joy of being outside and great physical activity."
Itasca was the first park in Minnesota, established in 1891.
