Parks & Trails

Thompson Lake Restoration

Starting this fall through May 2019, Thompson Lake will undergo a restoration effort led by Dakota County, the City of West St. Paul and the Lower Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization.

The restoration project will focus on removing contaminated sediment from the lake and improving storm water management.

During this project several trail segments will be closed and some parking space in the picnic shelter parking lot will be used to stage equipment. Access to the picnic shelter and restrooms will remain open throughout the project which is expected to be completed by the end of May.

The featured picture is Thompson Lake in its fall colors.

Dakota County’s Park System is 50.

This year the Dakota County Park System is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Through those 50 years, we have set aside over 5,600 acres of land for recreation, learning and preservation in county parks, trails and greenways. We are now in the first full year of a 5-year plan Natural Resource Management System Plan to restore 3,500 acres in parks and 180 acres within the greenway corridors.

We celebrated Dakota County’s newest park, 456-acre Whitetail Woods Regional Park, in Empire Township in the center of Dakota County, one mile north of the Vermillion River in September, 2014. Commissioner Kathleen Gaylord joined the entire County Board, State Representative Rick Hansen and an estimated 3,000 county residents at the opening day event.

The park features a fawn crossing nature play area for children, a sliding hill for winter activity, hiking trails, camper cabins and picnic areas with sprawling views of the countryside and Empire Lake.

Commissioner Gaylord is pictured with members of the former County Board planting native grasses at the Whitetail Woods opening.