In 1993, Minnesota turned 5,000 acres of abandoned iron mines and 15 flooded pits up to...

Flooded iron mine pit turned clear lake Thirty-three years after local authorities took control of thousands of acres of damaged land, a former mining centre in central Minnesota has completed one of the Midwest’s most striking ecological transformations. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) established the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area in 1993, taking over 5,000 acres of abandoned iron mines and 15 flooded open pits. According to state records published in Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine, the former industrial site is now a major recreation area with more than 50 miles of singletrack mountain bike trails and 25 miles of natural, undeveloped shoreline.From mining site to recovering landscapeFrom 1900 to the early 1980s, the Cuyuna Iron Range was a major industrial mining area. When mining stopped, companies left behind huge open pits, piles of red earth and old, damaged infrastructure. The unfenced land was also exposed to erosion and safety problems. Over the years, groundwater and rainwater slowly filled the deep mine pits. Fifteen of them became deep, clear lakes, some reaching depths of up to 525 feet. Portsmouth Mine Pit Lake, within the recr...