Editing Minnesota (section)

=== Protected lands ===

[[File:Pose lake Minnesota.jpg|thumb|right|Pose Lake in the [[Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness]]]]

Minnesota's first state park, [[Itasca State Park]], was established in 1891, and is the [[source (river or stream)|source]] of the Mississippi River.<ref>{{cite web | title = Itasca State Park | publisher = Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | url = http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca/narrative.html | access-date = May 3, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080403192641/http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca/narrative.html | archive-date = April 3, 2008 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> Today Minnesota has [[List of Minnesota state parks|72 state parks]] and recreation areas, [[List of Minnesota state forests|58 state forests]] covering about four million acres (16,000{{spaces}}km<sup>2</sup>), and numerous state wildlife preserves, all managed by the [[Minnesota Department of Natural Resources]]. The [[Chippewa National Forest|Chippewa]] and [[Superior National Forest|Superior national forests]] comprise {{convert|5.5|e6acre}}. The Superior National Forest in the northeast contains the [[Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness]], which encompasses over a million acres (4,000{{spaces}}km<sup>2</sup>) and a thousand lakes. To its west is [[Voyageurs National Park]]. The [[Mississippi National River and Recreation Area]] (MNRRA) is a {{convert|72|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} corridor along the Mississippi River through the Minneapolis–St. Paul Metropolitan Area connecting a variety of sites of historic, cultural, and geologic interest.<ref>{{cite web|title=Places To Go|url=http://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm|publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior|access-date=May 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413225513/http://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm|archive-date=April 13, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>