Staples Township is a township in Todd County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 622 at the 2000 census and in the 2020 census it was 597.
Staples Township was organized in 1882, and named for Samuel and Isaac Staples, businessmen in the lumber industry. The Staples brothers arrived in Minnesota from Maine and came to Staples via Stillwater, MN. Staples is also a town in the township. Part of the town of Staples is in Todd County and part of it is in Wadena County.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 33.9 square miles (87.7 km); 32.7 square miles (84.7 km) is land and 1.1 square miles (3.0 km) (3.40%) is water.
Dower Lake
Dower Lake is an 84 acre lake with a maximum depth of 34 feet. Fish species residing in the lake include black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, yellow bullhead, yellow perch, bowfin (dogfish), white sucker, and golden shiner.
thumb|Golden Shiner live in the waters of Dower Lake.
Two miles west of the town of Staples, on the shores of Dower Lake, is the 54 acre Dower Lake Recreation Area. The area is owned by the City of Staples and features a softball complex, 9-hole disc golf course, basketball court, swimming beach, sand volleyball court, horseshoe pits, picnic shelter, picnic areas, public lake access and Minnesota’s longest fishing pier, measuring 612 feet.
A few miles northwest of Dower Lake is the Dower Lake Wildlife Management Area, managed by the Minnesota DNR. The 40 acre WMA is open water wetland with surrounding cattails and low land grass and brush areas.
Staples Wildlife Management Area
thumb|The American Black Bear lives in the Staples WMA.
This 1,428.41 acre WMA is in the south eastern corner of the township. Wildlife species in the Staples WMA include Whitetail Deer, Black Bear, Small Game, Forest Upland Birds, Waterfowl, and Wild Turkey.
This Wildlife Management area has grassland and restored wetlandas well as woodlands made up of hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood trees.