Full-time naturalists have been hired for the summer at Ft. Ridgely, Minneopa, Flandrau and six other state parks in southwest Minnesota.

In the past only four of these parks had naturalist staffing, according to Ron Miles, regional naturalist for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stationed at New Ulm.

THE NATURALISTS will conduct interpretive hikes and talks until the end of the season Sept. 5.Times will be posted at the park offices.

Only charge is the fee for vehicle permit required of all vehicles entering the parks, $1 per day or $3annual fee. State parks generally close at 10p.m.

“Our major emphasis is on local interpretation, interpretation of the local environment of the park,”Miles said. “We want to get people out in the park and acquainted with the geologic, biologic, prehistoric, historic and aesthetic uniqueness of a given park.”

THIS IS the third season of naturalist interpretation services statewide, Miles said.

One of the newest moves for Minnesota state parks is the development of 30-minute radio dramas about a specific park, to be broadcast for a short range in that park.

One such broadcast is already used at a park on Mille Lacs Lake, another has been prepared for Birch Coulee at Morton but is not in use yet. A third is being prepared for Flandrau, dramatizing the Battle of New Ulm, Miles said. Visitors would be able to tune in on their car or transistor radios at 1200 on the dial.

THE EXPANSION of naturalist staffing from four to nine regional parks was possible even though the budget stayed the same, Miles said.

Three of the naturalists are hired under the state Volunteers In Parks program, receiving housing, mileage, plus $9.50 per day for living expenses. Another four are hired as part of the regular DNR budget. The naturalists at Ft. Ridgely, Camden and Lac Qui Parle are paid with CETA (Concentrated Employment Training Act) federal funds, Miles said.

NANCY HAUGEN, a graduate student in parks and recreation at Mankato State, is the naturalist at Ft. Ridgely, south of Fairfax on Hwy. 4. She is originally from Duluth.

John Fylpaa,graduate student in ecology at MSC, will be the naturalist at Minneopa, between New Ulm and Mankato on Hwy. 68. He is originally from Iowa.

Clair Rausch, a Sleepy Eye native, is assistant naturalist at Camden State Park, south of Marshall at Lynd. She is a park and recreation student at the University of Minnesota, Crookston.

Other state parks with naturalists on hand this summer are Flandrau at New Ulm, Lake Shetek at Currie,Upper Sioux Agency at Granite Falls, Sibley at New London,Big Stone at Ortonville, La cQui Parle state park and game refuge north of Montevideo.

VISITOR INTERPRETIVE centers are open at Big Stone and Upper Sioux Agency. The former Fredric Manfred home has been bought by the state and will be made into an interpretive center at Blue Mound State Park near Luverne, Miles said.

The Sibley State Park north of Willmar has an area resource center for environmental education which the DNR hopes to use as a model for future programs using all state parks as outdoor classrooms.

Miles, a Georgia native, came to the DNR headquarters in New Ulm last January from Ft. Snelling State Park where he had spent two years developing a nature center.

New Ulm Daily Journal

June 11, 1975