1
Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Nature preserve
714 acres2.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Carver
Carver, MN parks, trails & bike paths
About 42% of Carver is conserved land, roughly 1,360 acres. There are about 8.0 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (2.7 mi) and Carver Highlands WMA (0.7 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Carver, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Carver outdoors
Conserved land
42%
1,360 of 3,251 acres
Trails
8.0 mi
1.6 mi per sq mi · 6 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
7
218 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
15.1 mi
0.8 mi lanes · 14.3 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Carver Highlands Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
63 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
3
Community Park
Park
23 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Riverside Park
Park
15 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Playgrounds in Carver
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground in Community Park
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground in Lion's Park
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,360 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 2 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.8 mi
- Off-road bike paths14.3 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball6
- Basketball5
- Tennis2
- Pickleball2
- Skate park2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Carver
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
National Wildlife Refuge 2,424 acConservation Easement 313 acLocal Park 87 acState Conservation Area 59 acLocal Recreation Area 47 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeNational Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 2,424 | Restricted |
| Carver Highlands Wildlife Management AreaState Conservation Area | State natural resources | 59 | Open |
| Riverside ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 41 | Open |
| Bluff ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 21 | Open |
| Riverside Park Open SpaceLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 21 | Open |
| Carver Creek ParkLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 20 | Open |
| Community ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 20 | Open |
| Lions ParkLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 6 | Open |
| Overlook ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
Nearby
Carver and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carver | 41.8% | 8.0 mi | 7 |
| Dahlgren | 1.3% | 2.0 mi | 1 |
| Louisville | 14.8% | 21.6 mi | 4 |
| Chaska | 3.9% | 19.7 mi | 18 |
| San Francisco | 8.7% | 2.6 mi | 5 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Carver's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.