There are 67 state parks, nine state recreation areas, nine state waysides, and 23 state trails in the Minnesota state park system, totaling approximately . A Minnesota state park is an area of land in the U.S. state of Minnesota preserved by the state for its natural, historic, or other resources. Each was created by an act of the Minnesota Legislature and is maintained by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The Minnesota Historical Society operates sites within some of them. The park system began in 1891 with Itasca State Park when a state law was adopted to "maintain intact, forever, a limited quantity of the domain of this commonwealth...in a state of nature." Minnesota's state park system is the second oldest in the United States, after New York's. Minnesota's state parks are spread across the state in such a way that there is a state park within of every Minnesotan. The most recent park created is Lake Vermilion State Park, created in 2010. The parks range in size from Franz Jevne State Park with to Saint Croix State Park with . Two parks include resources listed as National Natural Landmarks (Big Bog State Recreation Area and Itasca State Park) and six parks encompass National Historic Landmarks (Charles A. Lindbergh, Fort Snelling, Mille Lacs Kathio, St. Croix, Soudan Underground Mine, and Split Rock Lighthouse State Parks). 52 sites or districts across 34 Minnesota state parks are on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), including 22 parks with developments constructed by New Deal-era job creation programs in the 1930s. History Minnesota's first attempt to create a state park came in 1885, when a park was authorized to preserve Minnehaha Falls. The effort was delayed by legal appeals from the various landowners of the desired parkland, and by the time those were settled in favor of the state in 1889, Minnesota no longer had the money to purchase the land. Instead the city of Minneapolis fronted the cash. Owned and operated by Minneapolis, Minnehaha State Park was ultimately absorbed as a city park. Minnesota tried again in 1891, authorizing a state park around Lake Itasca both for its recreational opportunities and to protect the source of the Mississippi River. Interstate Park on the St. Croix River was created in 1895. Other sites were added over the next two decades, but with an inconsistent vision. Modest tracts of scenic land were acquired