Mining nature's bounty: Minnesota transforms an abandoned iron field into a revenue-building recreational resort

Parks & Recreation, Feb, 2005

Just outside the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota sits Giants Ridge--a year-round multi-recreational destination. With 34 downhill runs, more than 60 km of cross country ski trails, 36 holes of golf and miles of natural landscape for hiking, it is hard to imagine that Giants Ridge used to partially be an abandoned mining site.

Managed by Minnesota's Iron Range Resources agency (IRR), Giants Ridge contributes about $5 million to the state agency's budget and employs almost 800 people during the peak seasons. But Giants Ridge might never have existed if it was not due to the forward-thinking mentality of the 1941 state legislature and then-Gov. Harold Stassen, who established IRR to strengthen the area's economy.

IRR is a state agency with a current budget of $22 million, which focuses on rehabilitating the 13,000 square miles of land impacted by the mining industry. Several of its projects involve jumpstarting the local economy through small business loans, but it has also converted Minnesota's dilapidated iron fields into cross-country trail systems, open space and recreational resources for public use. To date, IRR has spent $10 million on developing 300 miles of trails.

The agency receives its funds from taxes generated from the iron ore mining industry. Because iron is not a renewable resource, IRR's responsibility is to generate alternative sources of income. Giants Ridge is the agency's only owned and operated recreational endeavor, but it is the largest project in IRR's annual budget, according to IRR Commissioner Sandy Layman.

In 1984, IRR purchased a defunct ski hill from the city of Biwabik in the hopes of reinvesting in the surrounding community. IRR made $6 to $7 million in improvements to the 200-acre ski area, installing a new chalet, snowmaking equipment, chair lifts and other renovations. And while the public and the citizens of Biwabik used the facility, it was not the financial success that IRR had hoped. By the mid 1990s, IRR decided to expand the operations of Giants Ridge to include golf, says Mike Gentile, Giants Ridge development manager.

Through the purchase of 25-year state bonds, IRR raised $5 million and opened The Legend, an 18-hole golf course to the public. Three years later, Giants Ridge had a second golf course, The Quarry, which was built for $10 million.

With the latest addition to the golf courses, Giants Ridge has received national acclaim. Golf Digest named The Quarry the "Best New Upscale Public Golf Course in America" in its January issue. SKI magazine rated Giants Ridge Minnesota's No. 1 ski resort, and Golf-World magazine listed Giants Ridge as one of the "top six golf destinations in the world."

Giants Ridge totals 1,000 acres of land, 35 acres of which have been developed into a 98-unit hotel and a multi-unit residential complex. "One of the purposes of the agency being involved in this project in the first place is ... to make the property in the area more valuable and promote other private sector development," Layman says.

There is also a 13-member board comprised of state legislators and citizens who oversee the agency and its assets.

IRR gets many of its project ideas from communication ties within the northeastern Minnesota community. Volunteer groups, advisory committees and other concerned citizens help guide the agency's future projects. "It's important to us that we are well connected with the communities that we serve," says Layman.