Rice Lake State Park

About this park

Rice Lake State Park, established in 1963 following a grassroots campaign sparked by a Claremont newspaper editor in 1961, entirely surrounds Rice Lake, a shallow, marsh-ringed headwater of the Zumbro River that has long served as a major stopover for migrating waterfowl. The park's creation was driven partly by practical local concerns: Owatonna had recently lost part of its Kaplan Woods State Park to Interstate 35 construction, and the city's swimming pool had grown overcrowded, leading residents to hope the state would dredge Rice Lake to improve boating and swimming access. The surrounding landscape was once part of Minnesota's southern oak barrens, a vast transition zone of prairie grasses and wildflowers scattered with bur oak trees; though decades of agriculture and development altered most of this habitat, the park today preserves remnant old bur oaks alongside restored prairie plantings that give visitors a genuine glimpse of what this landscape once looked like. American Indians historically harvested wild rice from the lake that gives the park its name, and the shallow, marshy waters continue to draw waterfowl during spring and fall migrations much as they always have. Rice Lake has effectively reinvented itself in recent decades as a dedicated birdwatching destination, trading on its wetland habitat and oak savanna remnants to draw dedicated birders alongside the hikers, picnickers, and campers who make up its more general visitor base. The 1963 legislation that created the park also saw the remaining portion of the original Kaplan Woods State Park transferred to the city of Owatonna, which maintains it today as Kaplan's Woods Parkway.