State celebrates 125th anniversary of Wisconsin State Park System

In 2025, the state will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Wisconsin State Park System, which was first founded through the creation of Interstate Park in northwestern Wisconsin in 1900.

While it’s the oldest state park, the park’s superintendent Matt Densow said it wasn’t the first.

“The (first) state park was actually formed in the 1870s by the Legislature. The state had about 50,000 acres out in Vilas and Oneida counties,” Densow said. “It was called The State Park.”

However, the state eventually sold those assets, and it wasn’t until the 1890s that the state’s oldest park began to form under the leadership of St. Croix Falls resident Harry Baker and Taylors Falls resident George Hazard. Densow said the two wanted to protect the Dalles of the St. Croix River, which was formed after meltwater from Glacial Lake Duluth overflowed and carved the St. Croix Valley channel.

“When that happened, it broke through all the rock in this area, forming the Dalles of the St Croix,” Densow said.

Since the park’s creation, the system has grown to include 50 state parks, 44 state trails, 15 state forests, nine state recreation areas and eight river and resources areas. Now, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is holding events throughout 2025 to commemorate the anniversary, beginning with its annual first-day hikes on Jan. 1.

Steve Schmelzer, director of DNR Parks and Recreation Management, said they want to celebrate those who helped establish the state park system. He said that includes landscape architect John Nolen, who provided the framework for establishing the state park system.

“Obviously, the conservation history of Wisconsin is long and deep,” Schmelzer said. “I think that kind of got its start during that time and really propelled us to what we have today.”

In 1909, Nolen wrote a report on the justification for state parks to protect natural resources, as well as provide economic gain and recreational opportunities for Wisconsin.

“No question before the American people today is of greater importance than the conservation of our natural resources and the preservation of all those means of health and happiness which through selfishness or thoughtlessness are so likely to be destroyed,” Nolen wrote.

Nolen recommended creation of four state parks, including the popular Devil’s Lake State Park in Baraboo. Since the turn of the last century, properties within the state park system now span more than 307,000 acres.

In the past two decades, Schmelzer said the number of visitors to Wisconsin state parks has grown 50 percent to nearly 20.3 million visitors last year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people sought the outdoors in droves amid calls for social distancing. Schmelzer said the number of visitors to state parks remains about 25 percent higher than prior to the pandemic.

As more people are visiting those properties, funding to maintain them continues to be a challenge.

The state parks system is primarily funded through user fees to offset a loss of general purpose revenue or state tax funding. The Wisconsin Policy Forum noted revenues used to make up around 40 percent of the budget for state parks operations, but the state began shifting away from state tax funding for parks in the mid-1990s. That culminated with the elimination of such revenues for parks operations under the 2015-17 budget, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

While some camping and admission fees are increasing next year, Schmelzer said revenues largely haven’t kept pace with the costs to maintain state properties. Although, the Legislature devoted more than $100 million for capital projects under the current two-year state budget.

“That’s three times the amount that we had gotten previously,” Schmelzer said. “But we also have a little over $1 billion in backlog maintenance that we need to address.”

The DNR has requested around $505 million under the next two-year state budget to begin addressing the maintenance backlog. Even so, Schmelzer noted Wisconsin’s outdoor recreation industry contributed a record $11.2 billion to the state’s economy last year.

“The state parks and forests and trails across the state — they bring in a lot of economic activity,” Schmelzer said. “Tourism is obviously a big part of Wisconsin. The draw from those visitors, I feel like the state properties kind of anchor that.”

At Interstate Park, Densow said his favorite spot is at the end of the loop on the Point Trail along the St. Croix River.

“It’s a spot where you can really be alone with nature,” Densow said.

As for Schmelzer, Devil’s Lake holds a special spot in his heart after working there for 27 years, but he couldn’t identify a favorite.

“There’s so many cool aspects about the properties across the state,” Schmelzer said. “It’s very hard for me to pick.”

The state will hold a series of events to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Wisconsin State Park System, capping off with the main event at Interstate Park in September.