Enhanced Public Land Grasslands - Phase II

Working with area managers at both MN DNR and USFWS, Pheasants Forever requested proposals to complete
wetland restoration, invasive tree removal, prairie seeding, and prescribed fire on existing WMA's and WPA's in
the Prairie zone. Projects were then ranked based on priorities including, T&E species, Conservation Plan Focus
Areas (e.g. the MN Prairie Plan), size of the complex area, water quality benefits, and overall cost to complete. Once
projects were selected for funding, Pheasants Forever restoration staff worked closely with area managers in order
to develop restoration/enhancement plans. Once those plans were developed they were written into a statement
of work that was sent to numerous contractors in order to solicit competitive bids following PF's procurement
policy. Once a contractor has been awarded the contract, PF and agency staff monitored the
restoration/enhancement work to ensure it was completed adequately.
Pheasants Forever had proposed to enhance 7,800 acres of uplands and restore 45 acres of wetlands. We did fall
short of our upland goal by enhancing 7,275 acres, as we gave priority to wetland restoration projects. This,
however, caused us to far exceed our goal and restore 952 wetland acres, thus over-achieving our total acre goal by
382 acres. Additionally, due to the value of these wetland restoration projects, PF was able to bring more than
$156,000 of federal match, specifically from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, to this proposal.
There were no significant issues that occurred during the proposal period. As with any work of this kind we
anticipated there would be challenges due to weather, contractor difficulties, agency staff changes, etc. but by
working closely with our partners we were able to be very successful on our delivery of this important wildlife
habitat work.