The 3M sign came down in late summer at its Wonewok corporate getaway north of Park Rapids. "That really tied it up for the rest of us that this is happening," Rich Halvorsen, a neighbor of the resort on Big Mantrap Lake, told me earlier this month. Halvorsen and I met at a little roadside cafe a few miles from the lake in May. It was just a couple of weeks after 3M announced that it was .
The property includes roughly six miles of undisturbed shoreline that conservation officials say is invaluable for fish and wildlife, including the lake’s burgeoning and long-studied loon population.
One former 3M employee said a trip to Wonewok resort was like visiting a magic world. Now, the industrial giant is selling the property amid cost-cutting efforts.