PARK RAPIDS, Minn. - A secluded lakeshore oasis accessible only to 3M employees for 70 years will eventually open to the public now that the company has sold most of its corporate retreat.
After buying nearly 450 acres of the retreat for $5.38 million, the Minnesota Land Trust and Northern Waters Land Trust will transfer the land on Big Mantrap Lake, just north of Park Rapids, to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Once the handover is completed this year, the DNR will open the land as a wildlife management area accessible for outdoor recreation.
“Before it was kind of an exclusive resort area that you just heard stories about,” said DNR area wildlife supervisor Erik Thorson. “It’s really picturesque and awe-inspiring.
“This is a one-of-a-kind property that I think everybody is gonna really enjoy and be really impressed with. It felt like a privilege to be out there, so everybody will get to have that same experience.”
Not included in the sale was the Wonewok Conference Center, a 180-foot-long, pine log lodge and six cottages sitting on 190 acres. Built in 1929, the center was bought by 3M in 1955.
The company said it is “exploring options to sell the remaining developed property.”
3M closed Wonkewok in the spring of 2023 and put it on the market. That raised fears among conservationists and [neighbors](https://www.startribune.com/ramstad-3ms-selling-its-minnesota-lake-resort-ending-an-era-and-worrying-neighbors/600275529) that the pristine property — consistently ranked by ecologists as having “outstanding biological significance” — could be developed.