Minnesota’s busiest state park — Fort Snelling — has reopened after being closed for six months due to spring flooding. The D-N-R’s Rachel Hopper says the park — at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers — is prone to flooding but has never been closed for this long before. “I was lucky enough to be down there this morning and seeing all the visitors pouring in, literally,” she says. “It was fun, and smiles on faces — both park staff and visitors.”
Hopper estimates Fort Snelling lost four- to five-hundred-thousand visitors during the closure, translating to nearly a quarter million dollars in revenue. Clean-up and repair costs are estimated at 200 thousand dollars — but Hopper stresses that staff and programs will *not* be cut.