Where is River Heights Park?

River Heights Park is a 7.5-acre City of Inver Grove Heights-owned park in Dakota County that consists of restored savanna and woodland with a mowed loop trail. It's part of our local national park, the Mississippi National River & Recreation Area, as well as the Mississippi River Flyway — an internationally significant migratory corridor used by millions of birds and other wildlife throughout the year.

River Heights Park is just upstream of a major habitat corridor along the Mississippi River that includes our work at the 1,300-acre Pine Bend Bluffs Natural Area. This corridor provides important wildlife habitat, water quality benefits and community enjoyment.

The public is welcome to visit River Heights Park. (See the Inver Grove Heights website for more info.)

Our work here takes place on Dakota homelands.

What's special about River Heights Park?

This river bluff park is beloved by many community members and provides much-needed wildlife habitat as part of the river corridor and Mississippi River flyway. While small, the site is home to many bird species, including bluebirds, broad-winded hawks and oriels.

A demonstration garden maintained by volunteers is a thriving example of many of the native plant species present in the park, including prairie smoke, butterfly milkweed, blazing star and anise hyssop. Volunteer monitors have recorded numerous insect species at the park, including tiger beetles, native bees, monarchs and more.

Our work at River Heights Park

Prior to 2017, River Heights Park was managed by the City of Inver Grove Heights as parkland, but in 2017 the city made plans to sell the three parcels for development. The local community, however, strongly supported retaining the park. After hearing from dozens of community members (including many FMR River Guardians), the Inver Grove Heights city council unanimously voted to save River Heights Park in May of 2018. Since then, FMR has helped with planning and management of the park.

Funding from the Royal Bank of Canada and partnership with the City of Inver Grove Heights made possible FMR's development of a natural resources management plan for the park in 2020. Restoration implementation work began shortly thereafter, through funding from the city and the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. Community members continue to be integral to the restoration of River Heights Park, participating regularly in volunteer events, including brush hauls, seed collections and pollinator monitoring. 

The over-arching goal for the property is to increase the diversity and abundance of native plant species, with a particular focus on pollinator plants. Additional ecological goals are to improve habitat for wildlife, including birds and pollinators, provide connectivity with other natural areas in the landscape, maintain and manage the property for water quality, and provide close-to-home opportunities for people to enjoy and interact with nature. 

Find out more and get involved

• Volunteer with us to restore places like this.
• Sign up to monitor monarchs at River Heights Park as part of FMR's Pollinator Evaluation Program.
• Contact FMR project lead Julia Leone.

Partners and funders for our work at River Heights Park

This work was made possible by Mississippi Park Connection, Royal Bank of Canada, City of Inver Grove Heights, the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, Laura Jane Musser Fund and by our generous volunteers and donors like you!