2 October 2023
The Manitou Fund announced Monday that it has entered into a purchase agreement with the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation to purchase the 600-acre Wilder Forest property in northern Washington County.
“I am pleased and relieved that this property – which has been earmarked for conservancy – will now continue to be protected and preserved,” said Manitou Fund Trustee Greg McNeely.
The Manitou Fund, based in White Bear Lake, was created by McNeely’s father, Minnesota business magnate Donald McNeely, who died in 2009 at age 94. The fund is a major benefactor of River Grove Elementary School, a K-5 charter school that operated out of Wilder Forest from 2017 until the spring.
“For over 50-plus years, my dad committed support for this area,” McNeeley said. “I am enthusiastic about the future for the land being utilized to promote environmental stewardship connecting people with nature. Now, Manitou Fund can continue that legacy of supporting conservation and education platforms that will benefit the community and beyond.”
A sales price was not disclosed, but Manitou Fund officials last year offered to purchase the property for $11 million – Wilder’s then-asking price. Wilder instead agreed in September 2022 to sell the property to the Minnesota Catholic Youth Partnership, which planned to build a youth camp on site. That deal fell through in August, and a spokesman for MCYP blamed an “ongoing misinformation campaign” for making it difficult to obtain needed approvals from May Township, the jurisdiction where the land is located.
Wilder, which has owned the land since 1957, stopped operating programs on site in 2003. The land features lakes, wetlands, upland forests, hardwood forests, grasslands and prairie. It’s located near Square Lake, which has the best water quality of any lake in the east-metro area, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
In addition to River Grove, known officially as Marine Area Community School, Big River Farms, a land-based education program for immigrant and refugee organic farmers and farmers of color, run by The Food Group, leased land at Wilder Forest.
“Manitou Fund’s planned purchase (of Wilder Forest) is consistent with its decades-long legacy efforts of protection and preservation within the conservancy district,” said Oliver Din, Manitou Fund’s president and CEO. “In addition, we look forward to continuing community based environmental focused programs which include education, agriculture, and research.”
Din said the fund hopes to close on the sale by the end of the year.
River Radio, a podcast based in Marine on St. Croix hosted by radio veterans and Marine residents Jim Maher and Gayle Knutson, broke the news of the sale on its Saturday program.
River Grove school
After River Grove lost its lease, the Manitou Fund purchased the Zephyr Theatre building in downtown Stillwater for $2.5 million and submitted a plan to overhaul the property to make it suitable for an interim home for the River Grove. Construction on the building, now known as the Manitou Fund Education and Arts Center, is underway. Because River Grove is a public charter school, the plans had to be approved by the state, and the permit for buildout – with a listed valuation of $6.5 million – was issued on Sept. 1.
“Construction is ongoing and crews are working overtime,” according to River Grove’s school-board meeting minutes from Sept. 14. “Manitou is paying 40 percent over normal construction cost to get things done as quickly as possible.” The best estimate for an end to construction was mid-to-late October, according to the minutes, but there will be “numerous building and permit approvals needed before the building is certified ready to move in.”
Because the Manitou Fund Education and Arts Center wasn’t ready when school started, school officials and the Manitou Fund, which also owns Warner Nature Center in May Township, came up with a plan to place tents and portable toilets at Warner so the students at the school, which focuses on outdoor environmental education, could attend “field days” at the nature center in September and part of October. Visits to other sites such as other nature centers, museums and state parks also are scheduled.
May Township officials inspected the site at 15375 Norell Ave. on Aug. 25 and observed two tents on the property and learned that nine or 10 additional tents were planned to temporarily house an elementary school, township officials said.
Township officials notified Manitou Fund officials of violations present on the property “in relation to the operation of a school without a conditional-use permit,” Township Planner Nate Sparks wrote in a letter dated Friday. A representative from the township will inspect the site on Wednesday morning “to ensure conformance to the Town’s request to cease all unpermitted activity on the property identified in the letter dated September 5, 2023,” Sparks wrote.
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According to River Grove Elementary School board minutes dated Sept. 14, River Grove’s 133 students will attend classes in the basement of Evangelical Free Church in Stillwater Township in case of inclement weather on “field days” until the new Manitou Fund Education and Arts Center in downtown Stillwater opens.
The church, which is offering the space to the school for free, is empty during the week and has eight classrooms downstairs and bathrooms and a playground outdoors, according to the meeting minutes. It also has 20 acres of woods and trails and a large parking lot.
The River Grove board had planned to hold a special board meeting Monday night, but that meeting was canceled. The board will hold its regular monthly meeting at 5 p.m. Oct. 12 at the school’s administrative office: 450 Main St., Suite 220, Stillwater. The meeting is open to the public.