place

Lake Maria State Park

1963 establishments in MinnesotaProtected areas established in 1963Protected areas of Wright County, MinnesotaState parks of MinnesotaUse mdy dates from August 2023
Lake Maria State Park
Lake Maria State Park

Lake Maria State Park ( mə-RY-ə) is a state park of Minnesota, United States, created to provide a wilderness area within an easy drive of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. The park's amenities are designed primarily for hikers, backpackers, and horseback riders and consequently use remains light compared to other state parks around the metro area. It preserves a remnant of Big Woods atop a hilly, glacially-formed landscape dotted with lakes and wetlands. The park was established in 1963 west of the city of Monticello.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Lake Maria State Park (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Lake Maria State Park
Zumbrunnen Interpretive Trail, Silver Creek Township

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Lake Maria State ParkContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 45.313611111111 ° E -93.956944444444 °
placeShow on map

Address

Zumbrunnen Interpretive Trail

Zumbrunnen Interpretive Trail
55380 Silver Creek Township
Minnesota, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Lake Maria State Park
Lake Maria State Park
Share experience

Nearby Places

Sherburne County Generating Station
Sherburne County Generating Station

The Sherburne County Generating Station, also known as Sherco, is a large coal-fired power plant on the banks of the Mississippi River in Becker, Minnesota, which is in Sherburne County. Its three units have a combined capacity of 2,238 megawatts, making it the largest power plant in the state. In comparison, the single-unit Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant located less than four miles away has an output of 671 MW. The state's other nuclear power plant, the 2-unit Prairie Island facility, is rated at 1,096 MW, so Sherco has a larger peak output than those plants put together. The station uses 20,000 to 30,000 tons of coal per day. The BNSF Railway delivers up to three 115-car trains per day from mines in the Powder River Basin. In addition to generating electricity, some steam is also sent from the plant to a nearby paper plant, Liberty Paper Incorporated. The power plant has a normal staff of about 350 people, but up to 800 more employees are on site when the generating units are shut down and undergoing maintenance. The city borders of Becker extend around the plant, making the town heavily dependent on the plant for property tax revenue. The plant's annual $4 million property tax bill covers about 75% of the total for the city of about 4,600 people.The plant was initially constructed by Northern States Power Company (NSP), now a subsidiary of Xcel Energy. Units 1 and 2, which each have a capacity of 680 MW, came online in 1976 and 1977, respectively. The plant is still mostly owned by NSP/Xcel, although Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency has a 41 percent stake in the 876-MW Unit 3, which was built from 1983 to 1987 at a cost of about $1 billion.Unit 2 was shutdown on New Year's Eve in 2023.