Plans to transfer Upper Sioux Agency State Park lands back to the Upper Sioux Community will be moving forward this spring, officials with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday.

The park will officially close to the public on Feb. 16, and the land transfer is anticipated in March.

“We look forward to returning this land to the Upper Sioux Community. It is the right thing to do,” said DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen. “We also understand how much people love our state parks, and how important outdoor recreation and access to public lands is to Minnesotans. The DNR is committed to ensuring high quality recreation opportunities are available in this portion of the Minnesota River valley following the park’s closure.”

Strommen and other DNR members spoke with members of the media in a videoconference Wednesday morning.

DNR spokespeople said they will continue to work with the public on finding other opportunities for outdoor recreation in the Minnesota River valley. However, they said they don’t yet have definite plans.

“We don’t have specifics as of yet because we have a lot of information,” said Ann Pierce, DNR parks and trails division director. Pierce said the DNR is continuing to go through ideas raised by community members at engagement sessions in 2023.

Strommen said the park transfer was directed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2023, and has support from both the DNR and Gov. Tim Walz’s office.

The decision to transfer the park lands to the Upper Sioux Community came out of several different factors, Strommen said. The Upper Sioux Community had a longstanding request to transfer the land back.

“This land was the site of starvation and death of Dakota people during the summer of 1862, when the U.S. government did not provide food promised to the Dakota by treaty,” she said.

The DNR also faced operational challenges, like the collapse of part of Trunk Highway 67 and repeated flooding, that would require “significant investment” in infrastructure, she said.

“Making such investments to operate the park isn’t appropriate, given its history and the Upper Sioux Community’s request,” Strommen said.

Pierce said the closure of the park will allow the DNR to remove DNR-owned buildings and structures like signs. In the meantime, she said the DNR is continuing to go through the ideas for other recreational opportunities put forward by members of the public during input sessions this summer and fall.

“We’re grateful to everyone who has contributed their ideas and proposals,” including community members, park visitors, local officials and conservation organizations, she said.

Pierce said the DNR would share more information as it identifies specific recreation projects to pursue.

Strommen said the DNR has not been the only Minnesota state agency to turn back land to a Native American community. The agency has also received other requests, and would evaluate them as they make sense, she said. However, she said at this point the DNR does not have any other land transfer projects at the same scale as the Upper Sioux Agency park transfer.