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Park Name: Big Island Nature Park <br /> Classification: Community Park <br /> Location: Big Island, Lake Minnetonka <br /> Size in acres : 56 *To <br /> ,. <br /> Description: :. v <br /> -* ._ <br /> Facilities: Docks Beachr <br /> Small Buildin: Trails is.1 N.:' ., <br /> Adjacent Land Use: Season Recreational Cabins <br /> :STM <br /> Special use Groups/ Minnehaha Creek Watershed District r t <br /> Stakeholders: , II <br /> Restrictions or A majority of the site is in a Conservation £} <br /> Conditions: Easement. 41 <br /> The park is managed under the Big Island #" <br /> Management plan, 2011. <br /> The park has it own section in the city Code r: ' <br /> Article IV, Sections 22-111 thru 116 <br /> Notes: The Park is intended to serve a dual role in preservation of a unique natural setting while offering the public a variety of passive <br /> recreational opportunities.The land on which the Park lies has a rich history of recreational use that today's casual.passerby might <br /> never have imagined.It was home to an amusement park in the early 1900s operated by the Twin City Rapid Transt Company This <br /> regional attraction lasted only 6 seasons before it closed and was eventually dismantled.Remnants of the grandeur of the Big Island <br /> Amusement Park can still be found on the site,including the grand entry portal stairway and old foundation remnants hidden among <br /> the Island's wooded glens. In 1923 the property became the Big Island Veterans Camp,offering camping and other recreational <br /> opportunities to Minnesota's war veterans. Use of the camp by veterans and their families continued until 2003,when the Vets Camp <br /> Board of Governors voted to dispose of the property and use the proceeds for other veterans needs throughout Minnesota. The City of <br /> Orono stepped up and in partnership with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District obtained a grant from the State of Minnesota to <br /> 'urchase the .rose for .ark .ur.oses. <br /> PIDs Acres How and When Acquired <br /> 23-117-23 21 0001 46.12 City purchase in 2006 with$2M State/$3M City/$850K MCWD <br /> 23-117-23 22 0001 4.67 <br /> 14-117-23 34 0001 5.66 <br />