GRANITE FALLS — The Upper Sioux Agency State Park will be closed to the public starting Feb. 16 as the state transfers the property to the Upper Sioux Community.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources gave an update of its plan Wednesday morning in a video press conference.
The Upper Sioux Community has had a longstanding request to the state to return the land, which was the site of starvation and death of Dakota people during the summer of 1862, when the U.S. government failed to provide food promised to the Dakota by treaty.
The state Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz administration last session directed the DNR to return the land, which is near Granite Falls.
“We look forward to returning this land to the Upper Sioux Community, as continuing to operate it as a recreational use site is inconsistent with its unique and profound history,” DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said in a statement.
She said the agency is committed to expanding recreation opportunities in the Minnesota River Valley.
Through the summer and fall of 2023, the DNR got public input to identify potential investments in outdoor recreation that could be made in the area after the park closes. Ideas and proposals have come from DNR staff, the local community, local government officials, park visitors, and interested park and conservation-focused organizations. The ideas are being evaluated by DNR with input from partners, Strommen said.
The park will close to visitors by 8 a.m. Feb. 16.
Once closed, there will be no public access to the park and no services available. Gates will be closed, facilities including restrooms locked, informational and wayfinding signs removed, and trails will not be maintained.
Additional details about what this closure means for park visitors are available on the Upper Sioux Agency State Park land transfer webpage (mndnr.gov/usasp-transfer).
The 1,300-acre park is at the confluence of the Yellow Medicine and Minnesota rivers.
The park was the site of the Upper Sioux Agency, a federal government complex that was to provide the Dakota with the money, food and supplies owed to them under treaties. But the payments were rarely paid and were instead siphoned off by traders and others.
In the summer of 1862 the starving Dakota attacked the Lower Sioux Agency and the U.S.-Dakota War began. In the end, more than 600 settlers and soldiers were killed along with an estimated 100 Dakota warriors. The government hanged 38 Dakota men in Mankato after the war.
In 2017 the state transferred ownership of the 112-acre former site of the Lower Sioux Agency to the Lower Sioux Community.
The Upper Sioux Agency State Park has been one of the lesser visited state parks, getting about 35,000 visitors a year. By comparison, many of the more popular parks draw several hundreds of thousands visitors a year.