Staff from Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, National Park Service, and Minnesota Historical Society cohosting onsite event
Dog park users can ask questions and get more information on rationale behind planned fence formalizing dog park boundary
An Open House event is scheduled on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 9:30-11:30 am for people to learn more about fencing planned at Minnehaha Dog Park.
Staff from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB), National Park Service, and Minnesota Historical Society will be at the shelter/kiosk near the dog park entrance parking lot. The parking lot is located at East 54th Street and South Minnehaha Drive.
Staff from all three organizations will be available to answer questions from the public about the project’s background. The purpose of the Open House is not to take feedback on the decision to place a barrier at the boundary of the MPRB property, it’s to help people better understand reasons for installing fencing at the dog park.
Depending on interest and staff availability, there may be opportunities for staff to lead tours of the dog park perimeter and explain where the barrier will go.
Minnehaha Dog Park Fencing Open House
Date: Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024
Time: 9:30-11:30 am
Location: Shelter/Kiosk next to Minnehaha Dog Park parking lot at East 54th Street and South Minnehaha Drive.
Background
New fencing and gates are planned at Minnehaha Dog Park to prevent people from taking their off-leash dogs outside the established dog park boundary and onto adjacent land not owned or managed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB).
The National Park Service (NPS) and Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS), which do not allow unleashed dogs on their property, requested the project. The NPS provided grant funding for the project to help people understand and follow the rules of neighboring property owners.
Areas adjacent to the Minnehaha Dog Park are sacred to Tribes and were officially designated a Traditional Cultural Property in 2023 in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service has stewardship responsibilities for these areas and protects them in partnership with neighboring landowners and Tribes. Off-leash dogs detract from the sacredness of the site and its traditional uses.
The new fencing will also help protect restored native prairie remnants and sensitive ecological areas of significance from being damaged by dogs, formalize the dog park area with more defined boundaries and a new chicane-style double-entry gate, and expand the official dog park area on MPRB-owned property by approximately 10 acres.
People will still be able to take off-leash dogs to the portion of the Mississippi Riverfront that is owned by the MPRB.