Following Tuesday’s New Ulm City Council meeting Flandrau State Park manager Craig Beckman gave an overview of the park to the council. The goal was to create a connection between the city and the park.

Beckman said there was a disconnect between the two. Many residents were not familiar with what the park offered, and the park was not familiar with everything going on in the city.

“What we hope is we can generate a spirit of cooperation and sharing of resources to each other’s benefit,” New Ulm Community Development Director Dave Schnobrich said.

Flandrau was originally established as Cottonwood River 1AState Park in 1937 with 122 acres. It was created to take advantage of the Cottonwood River dam that created a water recreation option by creating Cottonwood Lake. Much of the park development occurred thanks to New Deal Programs such as the Veterans Conservation Corp (VCC), Work Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corp. The park even

served as a prisoner-of-war camp during WWII. Prisoners at the camp work at the camp, but in the community as well.

The Beach House at Flandrau State Park was built in 1938, a year after the park was established as Cottonwood River State Park.

Today, Flandrau is 819 acres of managed property. The statutory boundary is 983 acres. Beckman said statutory boundary is a legal designation that allows Flandrau to purchase the adjacent property if it came up for sale. At this time, Flandrau is close to maxing out on the size it can expand.

The swimming pond is Flandrau’s claim to fame. It was built in 1988 through a joint effort between the DNR and Friends of Flandrau.

Beckman said one of the greatest misconceptions about Flandrau is some people believe the water for the pond is pumped in from the Cottonwood River. This is not true. The water is, in fact, supplied by a private well. The water is even chlorinated and filtered and the pond has a sand bottom.

The pond is open the weekend after Memorial until the third weekend in August. These dates are dependent on staffing. The swimming pond is free to use with a vehicle permit.

The historic beach house next to the pond was built in 1938 and is available for rent. Beckman estimated the beach house is used 95% of the weekends in the summer season.

During the winter, the park offers snow ski and snowshoe rentals. There are six miles of groomed cross-country ski trails and three miles of snowshoe trails. An extra mile was added to the snowshoe trail this year and there are plans for more snowshoe trails in the future.

For camping, Flandrau had 34 electric sites, 17 non-electric, 27 rustic sites and three walk-in sites. Beckman said the public has requested group campsites and Flandrau is looking to convert some rustic sites into group camps.

The Cottonwood River serves as one of the state’s designated water trails. Three miles of the river go along Flandrau with multiple access points.

The historic Cottonwood Group Center is located at the former CCC and POW camp. It has eight bunk houses, sleeps up to 96 people with two showers, two restroom buildings and a large dining hall with a commercial kitchen.

Beckman said the majority of users are from outside the area. Many of the users were from the Twin Cities, others came from out of state.

The Group Center is open during the summer, but people can walk down the access hill at any time. Access is off Cottonwood road. Beckman said the road sees a lot of use during mushroom season.

There are three cabins in Flandrau. Two are camper cabins and CCC stone kitchen cabins. The camper cabins are rented out every weekend of the year. The camper cabins are heavily used in the summer but are used for cross-country skiing in the winter. The CCC stone kitchen cabin was recently converted five years ago and is not insulated for year-round use.

Beckman said around 50% of visitors coming to state parks are visiting from 100 miles away. It is not unusual for people to camp at Flandrau after failing to find available lodging elsewhere.

There are two full-time employees at Flandrau. The rest are part-time employees. They aim to have seven to eight lifeguards each summer. Around October, Flandrau operates on a skeleton crew.

The annual average visitation to Flandrau is 261,428 visitors. There are 16,582 campers. The camper/cabins are 1,067 and group center visitors are just under 2,000.

In 2012, a survey of park visitors found the average visitor to state parks spends $29.57 per day in the local economy, not counting the parking fee. Based on these figures, Flandrau brings in $7.7 million a year into the local economy.

Looking to the future, Beckman said water was an ongoing challenge for the park. He said with every major rain event the park requires cleanup. Much of the water runoff into the park comes from city and residential land adjacent to the park.

Water and flood mitigation is a major concern. Beckman wants to work with the city on this.

Recently, the park has begun working with the city to create a new canoe access point on the Cottonwood. A shift in the river eroded a previous access site.

The park is also looking to expand its trail offering. There is potential for mountain bike trails. There is a trail connection with Flandrau, Schell’s and the city land. Beckman said a hiking trail in this section was abandoned because of difficulty to maintain, but it could work as a mountain bike trail.

Buckthorn elimination is another possible collaboration between the park and the city.

Beckman said, “I think there is low-hanging fruit to collaborate.”