Minnesota DNR Partners with Libraries to Offer Free State Park Passes

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is partnering with libraries across the state to provide state park passes. The program lets patrons check out a pass at their local library and use it for entry into Minnesota state parks.

Every regional library system in Minnesota, along with two unaffiliated libraries, will have between one to four passes available for checkout. Participating libraries are in areas where the annual medium household income is $58,000 or where 40% of the students in a school district are enrolled in the federal free or reduced lunch program.

These passes provide free access to Minnesota state parks up to seven days. The DNR states the goal of this program is to take away the financial barrier of visiting state parks for low-income communities.

After use, the passes will not need to be returned, just recycled. Proof of income will not be required in order to check out a pass. Checkout policy for passes may vary for each library.