Bureau of Mines property to become parkland

The 27-acre historic Coldwater Spring site near Fort Snelling, a former U.S. Bureau of Mines research center, will be restored to natural conditions and managed by the National Park Service.

Just south of Minnehaha Falls Regional Park, between the Mississippi River and Highway 55, the site has spiritual significance for Native Americans. Soldiers used the spring as a water supply when they built Fort Snelling in the 1800s.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which has controlled the abandoned property, will manage contracts to demolish the buildings and restore the area by the fall of 2010, according to Paul Labovitz, Superintendent for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.

"This site holds great significance for American Indian people, for its role in early European settlement of the region, and for its 20th Century role in development of mining and mine safety technology," Labovitz added. "I am excited that this site will be preserved and managed by the National Park Service and we will be able to tell the many stories of this site to present and future generations of Americans."

Whitney Clark, FMR Executive Director, hailed the announcement. "It's great news, he said, "that the public will again have full access to the area. It will add to enjoyment of the river and its heritage."

In 2001, construction along Highway 55 threatened to disrupt groundwater flow that feeds the spring. In 2004, the Park Service began developing a plan for the site and later published a draft environmental study. The Department of Interior, which owns the land, has now decided officially to designate the Park Service as land manager. The decision will not be final until the environmental study is completed next year.

The Park Service will lead a public planning process to help determine the precise nature of the site's restoration, including restoration of Coldwater Spring.