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News and updates about America’s State Parks are important to share. It is our goal for this newsletter to highlight members, recognize key accomplishments and more. In this issue, we are sharing info about Erika Rivers, director of Minnesota Division of Parks and Trails, who also serves as then NASPD North-Central Regional board. Check out her accomplishments below and make sure to connect at the 2017 NASPD Conference in September!
ABOUT Erika Rivers
Erika Rivers was appointed director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Parks and Trails Division in April 2014. She began working closely with the Parks and Trails Division in 2010, when she managed the development of the master plan for Lake Vermilion State Park, Minnesota’s newest state park.
As Parks and Trails Division director, Rivers oversees a $110+ million annual budget and a staff of 1,200 full and part-time employees. State parks and trails host more than 9 million visitors annually and help support Minnesota’s $12 billion tourism industry. The division manages:
- 75 state parks and recreation areas.
- 62 state forest campgrounds and day-use areas.
- Thousands of miles of state trails: paved/hardened (624), forest (390), horse (1,000), ski (730), off-highway vehicle (1,000), snowmobile (950), water trails (4,530).
- 1,500 public water access sites.
- 350 fishing piers.
The Division is about to receive our third Government Innovation Award from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs (we have won three straight years) for our re-design of Visitor Self-Service Processes. We also won a national “plain language” award this year for our Back of the Map redesign from ClearMark.
As an update on strategic planning, the division is in the process of re-aligning our operations following a comprehensive System Plan, which was completed in December 2015 and differentiates our parks, trails, forest rec, and water access systems along clear categories of resource allocation and investment.
Prior to her role as Parks and Trails Division Director, Rivers was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Natural Resources in February 2011 by Commissioner Tom Landwehr. Her area of operational focus was customer engagement and outreach, where she also oversaw the divisions of Fish & Wildlife, Parks & Trails, and Enforcement.
Rivers began her career with DNR in 2004, and has lived and worked in Greater Minnesota in a variety of planning, information and outdoor recreation positions. While up north, she worked with local communities and lake associations on shoreland stewardship initiatives and was the project manager on the Lake Vermilion State Park development project. Rivers is passionate about engaging the next generation of Minnesotans to be active in the outdoors and to embrace the many benefits outdoor recreation offers.
Rivers holds B.A. in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology—both from the University of Minnesota. Her outdoor interests include hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, canoeing, and camping. Rivers is also the proud mother of two very active teenagers.
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