There is something for everyone at this popular
west-central Minnesota State Park. Hike to Mount Tom, one of several high
points in a 50-mile radius, and see a patchwork of forest, farmland, prairie
knolls, and lakes. Summer visitors enjoy swimming, boating, and fishing on Lake
Andrew. A canoe route invites adventurers to portage and canoe on Henschien Lake
and Swan Lake. The park offers campgrounds, a modern group center, horseback
camps, picnic area, and interpretive programs year-around.Quick stats:
2,936 acres
223,179 annual visits
Naturalist:
Naturalist programs are available year-round. Schedule of programs is
available at the park office.
Wildlife
White-tailed deer, red and gray fox, coyote, raccoon, and ruffed grouse are
inhabitants of the forest. Chipmonks, red and gray squirrels, mink, striped
skunks, badgers, and woodchucks are other species visitors can see as they hike
the trails at Sibley State Park. Birds common to Sibley include great blue
herons, egrets, wood ducks, Canada geese, scarlet tanagers, indigo bundings,
pelicans, loons and bluebirds.
History
Peter Broberg, the only member of his family to survive the U.S.-Dakota
Conflict of 1862, along with other residents were successful in getting the
Minnesota State Legislature to provide funds to purchase land which became
Sibley State Park. Realizing that the area was a popular spot for more than the
local people, the Legislature established Sibley as a state park in 1919. The
park was named after Henry Hastings Sibley, Minnesota's first governor. In 1935
the Federal government sent the Veterans Conservation Corps to Sibley State
Park. For the next three years, this group of up to 200 men built roads,
buildings, and trails within the park. When the camp was finished, they left
behind several granite buildings and a popular state park.
Geology
Four times in the history of Minnesota, glaciers advanced from the north,
covering the state with a sheet of ice up to two miles thick. During the last of
these advances, as recent as 10,000 years ago, most of the features of the
Minnesota landscape were formed.
Landscape
The forest is dominated by oak, red cedar, ironwood, green ash, aspen, maple,
and basswood. On the knolls, remnants of prairie grasses still grow. Some of the
fields which had been cleared and farmed by settlers have now been restored to
native prairie grasslands and oak savanna.
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