McCarthy Youth and Conservation Park is a 348-acre recreation park that provides opportunities for families, youth groups, and individuals to participate in outdoor conservation and recreation activities. The park offers group camping, hiking, cross-country skiing, equestrian and snowshoe trails, sledding hill, picnic opportunities, and a beautiful prairie/wetland restoration. Restored wetlands and prairies attract migrating waterfowl and grassland birds and provide outstanding nesting habitat.
The park is situated on the ancestral homeland of the HoChunk people. The HoChunk Nation is an active partner at the park, developing interpretive sites throughout the park. The vision for park began in 1974 with a donation of 180 acres of land that was owned by Russell and Ella McCarthy. The McCarthys’ primary goal was for the park to become “a place where kids from the city could learn about nature.”
