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Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park is a state park of Minnesota, US, northeast of Faribault just outside the small town of Nerstrand.The park derives its name from the Big Woods, a large, contiguous forested area covering much of southeast Minnesota prior to the 1840s, when European settlers began to establish farms in the territory, [2] and from Nedstrand in Tysvær, Norway, [3] of which ...
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Nerstrand (/ ˈ n ɪər s tʃ r æ n d / NEER-schrand) [4] is a city in Rice County, Minnesota, United States. [ 5 ] Minnesota State Highway 246 serves as a main route in the community.
The Big Woods would have once covered 5,000 square miles (13,000 km 2) in a diagonal strip 100 miles (160 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide. Today most of this region has been cleared for agriculture and urban development. Remnant and secondary stands of Big Woods remain in parks and other protected areas.
Minnesota's first attempt to create a state park came in 1885, when a 173-acre (70 ha) park was authorized to preserve Minnehaha Falls.The effort was delayed by legal appeals from the various landowners of the desired parkland, and by the time those were settled in favor of the state in 1889, Minnesota no longer had the money to purchase the land.
The 30,700-acre (124 km 2) refuge protects mixed habitat types including oak savanna, Big Woods, and wetlands. The St. Francis River flows through the eastern side of the park. Over 230 species of birds, 58 species of mammals, and 25 species of reptiles and amphibians have been recorded in the refuge.
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Trails are well-developed and extensive in the forest: 3 miles (4.8 km) trails are designated for hiking and cross-country skiing in the wintertime, 32 miles (51 km) for horseback riding, with 121 miles (195 km) designated for both Class I and II all-terrain vehicle and off-highway motorcycling use.