Wood Lake Nature Center — Attraction in Richfield

I have worked at the nature center since 1996 as a weekend person. This is a wonderful nature spot to get away to right in an urban setting. The traffic noise can be distracting if you visit during rush hour (35W is west border) the sound wall really helps reduced the noise. As a dog owner, yes it is sad they are not allowed. Out of 26 Richfield city parks, this is the only one preserved as a nature center, verses traditional city park. This has been set aside to encourage wildlife to thrive without unnatural predators or threats. This is also why bikes are not allowed. Nature Center staff actively maintain the trails, continually work at eradicating invasive species (both in the water and land), make improvements to the park such as replacing desirable trees, plants and prairie flowers, and they provide educational opportunities for all ages at reduced or no cost. Staff are an educational resource for visitors that have nature related concerns, questions, or curiosity, both in person or via phone calls. It a wonderful location to see some impressive Eagle Scout projects that have greatly improved the park and its features when city finances were not able to accomplish them. Various community events such as the Friends of Wood Lake (FOWL) dinner, Urban Wildland Half Marathon, Half-Haunted Halloween and Candlelight and Ice New Years Eve all help bring visitors, funding and awareness to the park. Visitors have come from many states and countries to visit Wood Lake. Conveniently located off 35W at the 66th St. Exit, or the Lyndale exits off both Hwy 494 and Hwy 62, it is super easy to get to. The Emily Day Picnic shelter is a wonderful outdoor space for large gatherings and there are two outdoor amphitheaters also available. Indoors are exhibits, live animals and fireplace room for rent. This is truly a wonderful resource and natural space in the city. There are two GRIT wheelchairs available to use for FREE. One child's and one adult. You can call ahead to reserve. There is also a traditional wheel chair as well. In addition, available to check out FREE while in the park, there are two community hammocks, GPS units for Geo Caching (three different spots), themed backpacks for activities for children or adults while you hike, binoculars for birding, nets to look for critters in the marsh. For a small fee, there are live animals traps, buckthorn puller, cross county skis and snowshoes to rent. I highly recommend visiting Wood Lake Nature Center. The building is open Monday-Saturday 8:30am to 5:00pm and Noon to 5:00pm Sundays. Park is open...

Wood Lake is one of my favorite urban parks to visit. The landscape changes over the seasons and one can just sit on a bench and enjoy the sunset or walk/run the many paths around the lake - easily choosing the length of the walk as suits you in the moment. Depending on the time of year and day, one can see an amazing and impressive amount of birds and wildlife including eagles, osprey, pileated woodpeckers, great horned owls, warblers, egrets, herons, deer, muskrats, and turtles. As a woman, I never feel apprehensive walking alone in the park. I don't actually use the park building or the programs much (recently) so I can't speak to that but, in the past, I was very impressed by their family and children programs. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because of urban noise. This is situated very close to major freeways and the traffic noise is very present. I find it's a fair trade off for my living in the city and wanting to get to nature quickly while in the city. Others might be...

I'm always amazed at how beautiful and peaceful this place is. The nature playground is amazing. Today we went to the special event which was a Halloween trail scavenger hunt. Kids in costumes go around to several stops on the trail and meet people in animal costumes and participate in a little activity that mimics the animals behavior. At the end of the activities they get little piece of candy or something. At the end of the trail there's cookies and cocoa, a magic show, a storybook trail and a kids' DJ dance party. We've been every year for the past 4 years. It's a blast and keeps kids from 2 or 3 up to about 10 or 11 years old happy. Definitely recommended. (while usually admission is free, for this event you need to pre-register and all visitors, including adults, are...