{"id":736,"date":"2016-01-05T07:16:47","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T13:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/?p=736"},"modified":"2016-01-05T07:16:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T13:16:47","slug":"sunfish-lake-park-a-city-park-for-nature-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/?p=736","title":{"rendered":"Sunfish Lake Park: A City Park for Nature Lovers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_737\" style=\"width: 730px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_01.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-737\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-737\" class=\"size-full wp-image-737\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_01.jpg\" alt=\"Sunfish Lake Park\" width=\"720\" height=\"474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_01.jpg 720w, https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_01-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_01-624x411.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-737\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Kirk Nelson<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When searching for a location for a nature hike, nature lovers and amateur naturalists may not consider city parks. They are too small, too crowded, over developed, and unless they are nearby, too little known. Sunfish Lake Park should be on the radar for those looking for a nature site in the Twin Cities seven-county metro area.<\/p>\n<p>At 284 acres, Sunfish Lake Park is a small park but the largest park in the City of Lake Elmo park system. It is conveniently located just north of Lake Elmo Park Reserve and unlike that park it does not charge a fee. The City of Lake Elmo calls it the \u201ccrown jewel of the Lake Elmo park system.\u201d The Minnesota DNR designated it as a regionally significant ecological area (RSEA). The park includes two native plant communities, <em>Oak &#8211; (Red Maple) Woodland<\/em> and <em>Red Oak &#8211; Sugar Maple &#8211; Basswood &#8211; (Bitternut Hickory) Forest<\/em>. Thirteen bird species designated as of \u201cgreatest conservation need\u201d have been seed here, including Acadian Flycatcher and Hooded Warbler, both species of special concern, and Bald Eagle, a tracked species. American ginseng, a plant species of special concern, is also found here.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_10.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-738\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-738\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_10.jpg\" alt=\"Sunfish Lake Park\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_10.jpg 720w, https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_10-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Sunfish_Lake_Park_10-624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nine miles of wide mowed trails wind through woodlands, around wetlands, and through a 17-acre prairie restoration. On winter weekends the trails are well used by cross-country skiers, dog walkers, and the occasional amateur naturalist.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/minnesotaseasons.com\/Destinations\/Sunfish_Lake_Park.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/minnesotaseasons.com\/Destinations\/Sunfish_Lake_Park.html<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/?p=736\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"button_count\"  size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When searching for a location for a nature hike, nature lovers and amateur naturalists may not consider city parks. They are too small, too crowded, over developed, and unless they are nearby, too little known. Sunfish Lake Park should be on the radar for those looking for a nature site in the Twin Cities seven-county [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[296],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":739,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions\/739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minnesotaseasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}