Outdoors · Nelson

Nelson, MN parks, trails & bike paths

About 2.9% of Nelson is conserved land, roughly 646 acres. Nelson has 2 named parks and preserves on the map.

Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Nelson, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.

At a glance

Nelson outdoors

Conserved land
2.9%
646 of 22,664 acres
Trails
0.0 mi
0 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
2
named on the map
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 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

12
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.
1

Mulligan Slough Wildlife Management Area

Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
166 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
2

Voss Wildlife Management Area

Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
43 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects the land

646 conserved acres

Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other state land
333 ac
State fish & wildlife
209 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)
55 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
49 ac

Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 438 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 lanes0.0 mi
  • Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
  • Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi

Courts & fields

  • Baseball1

Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.

Nearby

Nelson and its neighbors

Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
TownConservedTrailsParks & preserves
Nelson2.9%0.0 mi2
Albin1.5%0.1 mi1
Adrian2.6%0.8 mi3
St. James0.7%0.0 mi2
Mulligan11.3%0.9 mi3
Trail talk

Conditions & tips from neighbors

No recent posts about Nelson'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.

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Nelson

Minnesota · MN · Watonwan County
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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01