History of Springbrook Nature Center

Springbrook Nature Center is currently the largest and most heavily used park in Fridley. Nature Center designation for this large park by the Fridley City Council occurred after strong public debate and a public referendum in 1974.

Springbrook's original 124 acres were purchased by the City in 1970 and 1971 using Land and Water Conservation Funds from federal grants. An additional three acres was added on the south boundary in 1981 by Northern States Power Company to compensate for the park area that their second high power line would cover. This brought the nature center to its current size of 127 acres.

In its early years Springbrook was surrounded by undeveloped land. A small 10-car parking lot easily accommodated the new nature center's 5,000 annual visitors.

Since 1974 Springbrook Nature Center has received more than one million dollars in grants and donations. These funds, along with tens of thousands of volunteer hours have helped develop an interpretive building and exhibits, three miles of hiking trails, 1/2 mile of boardwalk over wetlands, a paved handicap accessible trail, a 90-car parking lot, picnic shelter, amphitheater, bridges, wildlife overlooks and much more.

In 1986 a widely photographed tornado spent 16 minutes in the nature center, bringing national attention to Springbrook, but taking several years to clean up, with the loss of thousands of century old trees and extensive areas of mature forest habitat.

During the late 1980s and 1990s, the land around the nature center was intensely developed for residential and commercial uses. A result of this development is that Springbrook is an island of nature today, with use rising sharply. As a large natural park, Springbrook allows residents to develop a sense of place and a connection to the land within the community. Evidence of this is found by looking at the guest book which shows residents have brought visitors and relatives from all 50 states and more than 60 foreign countries all over the world.

In addition to being the most widely used leisure resource by Fridley residents, in recent years, people and agencies beyond Fridley have recognized the value of this special park to the larger metropolitan community. In 1994 the Star Tribune newspaper included Springbrook in its list of "Must See" places to take visitors and relatives in the Twin Cities. In 1996 a Minnesota Parent Magazine reader survey voted Springbrook the "#1 Park/Nature Center for Families" in Minnesota. In 1997 the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources listed Springbrook as one of 13 "hot spots" in the metro area to view wildlife in its Volunteer magazine.