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Minnesota and International Railroad Freight House and Shelter ShedMinnesota and International Railroad Freight House and Shelter Shed · Photo: Elkman · CC BY-SA 3.0
COutdoors
Outdoors in Lake Edward Township

6% of Lake Edward Township’s land is conserved: 979 acres

10% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 4 acres are parks and preserves, 1.9 per 1,000 residents. 4.8 miles of mapped trail cross Lake Edward Township, 0.2 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 25% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
6%
979 acres · of 25.4 sq mi of land
Trails
4.8 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
4 ac
1.9 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
10%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
6.0 mi
6.0 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
16
1 beach · 1 boat launch
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Lake Edward Township have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lake Edward Township is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Edward Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 25%
LessMore

Water is 30% of Lake Edward Township’s area (11 of 36 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 4%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

12
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Merrifield Lions Park

Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Lake Hubert Depot

Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it

979 conserved acres

6% of Lake Edward Township’s land. Water is left out: Lake Edward Township has 25.4 square miles of land and 10.9 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Lake Edward Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State natural resources616 ac
State fish & wildlife210 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits154 ac
State Resource Management Area · 616 acState Conservation Area · 210 acConservation Easement · 154 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 154 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Miscellaneous
State Resource Management Area
State natural resources616Open
Bertha Moody State Aquatic Management Area (Crow Wing)
State Conservation Area
State fish & wildlife209Restricted
Lougee-Markee State Aquatic Management Area (Crow Wing)
State Conservation Area
State fish & wildlife1Restricted
Things to do

4 places to go in Lake Edward Township

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Beaches in Lake Edward Township

1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.

Trails & water

1 named trail and 16 lakes & rivers

Biking & sports

6.0 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

6.0 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
1Baseball
1Tennis

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

1 place on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 2 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Minnesota and International Railroad Freight House and Shelter ShedBuilding · listed 1980
About it
When to get out

The walking year in Lake Edward Township

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.010.211.813.515.015.815.514.212.510.89.38.6
High (°F)192538536776807869543825
Rain (in)0.70.71.32.23.54.34.43.42.92.71.30.9

January is the driest month (0.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.4 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Lake Edward Township →

Next door

Lake Edward Township and its neighbors

Lake Edward Township has the most mapped trails of the 5 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Lake Edward Township6%0.2210%C
Pelican Township— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Nisswa2%0.128%D
Center Township6%0.1under 1under 1%D
Merrifield— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Lake Edward Township

How much of Lake Edward Township is conserved land?

6% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Minnesota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Lake Edward Township’s trails?

Merrifield Lions Park and Lake Hubert Depot don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Lake Edward Township?

6.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 6.0 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Lake Edward Township?

18,768 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lake Edward Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 620 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Lake Edward Township have?

Ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Lake Edward Township neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →