The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) is seeking to increase “non-white” visitors at state parks, a director told the press while reaffirming the agency’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Every five years, MDNR surveys, on a volunteer basis, the demographics of the visitors coming to state parks in the state. The study created two separate groups of visitors: whites and “BIPOCS.” BIPOCS included “American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, biracial and multiracial.”
The Parks and Trails Director, Ann Pierce, lamented that of the 2000 visitors surveyed last year, only 11% were non-white, just a 6% increase from 2017.
“The visitor study shows that Minnesota DNR is making progress toward our goal of inclusivity, though there’s still more work to do,” said Pierce. “We will continue our efforts to expand access to public lands for traditionally underserved communities and to welcome new visitors to outdoor recreation in state parks.”
“While some [Asian American, African American, Indigenous, and Latino] participants reported generally feeling welcome,” the report read, “several expressed hesitance about visiting parks further from the Twin Cities because of the lack of diversity and potential for experiences of microaggressions. The presence of park staff and rangers supported feelings of safety among BIPOC participants, regardless of race or ethnicity.”
Under a section of the survey findings titled, “What vision do visitors have for park design?” the document recommends, “Include more indigenous voice in park programming; decolonize signage and acknowledge park history.”
In April of 2020, the MDNR created the Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Task Force, which issued formal recommendations nearly a year later that MDNR incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion standards department-wide.
The state department is also involved in the “Increasing Diversity in Environmental Careers (IDEC)” program, “a unique college to careers pathway” that is only available to BIPOC individuals and those who identify as women.
Principal planner for MDNR Parks and Trails, Gratia Joice, explained in an interview earlier this week that she and other park employees were “excited” to see more racial diversity among park visitors.
“This is something we were really excited to see,” Joice told Minnesota Public Radio. “The survey shows increasing diversity among state park visitors, specifically visitors of color, from five percent in 2017 to 11 percent in 2022.”
