 The park was opened to the public on May 21, 2005, and was named after its early supporter U.S. Representative Bruce Vento.The sanctuary has a rich ecological and human history.Once a floodplain where Phalen Creek and Trout Brook flowed together into the Mississippi River, the land was used and valued by Native people for thousands of years, and was home to Wakan Tipi (Spirit House), a sacred Dakota site also known as Carver's Cave, after explorer and writer Jonathan Carver.