Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

City of St. Paul

Lower Phalen Creek Project

National Park Service: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary on Facebook

Representative Bruce Vento was well-known as a champion for environmental causes in Minnesota and across the nation. During his tenure in Congress, he was chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands for ten years, overseeing the enactment of 300 laws. After his death in 2000, several places in the Metro area were established in his honor: the Vento View Overlook near Cherokee Park, the Bruce Vento Regional Trail in Maplewood and St. Paul, which then leads down through Swede Hollow to the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. The 27-acre sanctuary is located just east of downtown St. Paul, tucked in between the railroad tracks along Warner Road and the bluffs below Mounds Park. One cave, called Wakan Tipi (Spirit House), was a significant site for the Native Americans living in the area. In 1853, the North Star Brewery was built here, and they used one of the caves to store beer. Starting in the 1880’s, the area became a railroad and industrial area, later becoming largely abandoned in the 1970’s. In 2001, a coalition of St. Paul residents, neighborhood groups, and the City of St. Paul started work on purchasing the land, and in 2005 it became an official park open to the public. There is an ongoing effort to restore the land’s ecology and native plant communities, though reminders of the industrial history have been left in place. The sanctuary has also become a significant location for birdwatching and for educational opportunities.

— Kirk Nelson

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary is part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) is a 72-mile, 53,775 acre corridor along the Mississippi River. It stretches in the north from Weigh Station Highway Park on US Highway 10 in Ramsey to the Dakota County/Goodhue County border in the south. MNRRA, pronounced “minnra”, is a partnership park, a new and unique kind of national park. St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center and the 29-acre Coldwater Spring are the only parcels of land within the MNRRA owned by The National Park Service.

Park Map (PDF)

27 acres

265 Commercial Street
Saint Paul, MN

There is a parking lot at the north end of the park on Positively 4th St. wit room for 14 cars.

Positively 4th St. Parking Lot
N44 57.201, W93 4.502

Additional parking is available at the nearby Indian Mounds Regional Park.

Indian Mounds Regional Park Parking Lot
N44 57.032, W93 4.109

Sunrise - 11 p.m.

1.0 mile loop with several interconnecting trails

No hunting

Sandstone and limestone bluffs, cave, wetlands, stormwater ponds, oak savanna and prairie restorations, and an educational bee apiary

Signs

Entrance

Trail

White-tail deer

Educational Apiary

Honey bees

Interpretative markers

Interpretive sign

Outdoor Classroom

Concrete railroad pad

Pond

Brewery Cave

View of Downtown St. Paul

eBird Field Checklist