Shallow Lake & Wetland Protection Program - Phase VI

This Phase 6 of Ducks Unlimited's prairie land acquisition/protection program in Minnesota acquired and restored
land with drained wetlands adjacent to existing public lands and shallow lakes for inclusion in the Minnesota
DNR’s state Wildlife Management Area (WMA) system. DU focuses on the acquisition and restoration of lands with
restorable wetlands and prairie adjacent to existing WMAs to create functioning prairie-wetland habitat complexes
for wildlife and public use. This work addresses the habitat goals in Minnesota's Long-range Duck Recovery Plan,
Minnesota’s Prairie Conservation Plan, and the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. This work is time-
sensitive because farmland adjacent to state WMAs is rarely offered for sale for conservation, and tracts are only
available for a short time.
DU worked in close partnership with the Minnesota DNR Section of Wildlife to identify land tracts for sale of
importance to DNR and of significance to wildlife, once restored and protected. DU then hired professional licensed
consultant appraisers to determine fair market land value, and purchased land from willing sellers private
landowners. In six of eight cases, DU secure bargain sale purchase donations totaling $56,832, and paid full
appraised value for the other two parcels. In each case, DU provided written communication to county boards
informing them of our land purchase plans at least 30 days before closing, and appeared before two county boards
and one township board to further explain and discuss our conservation work. No formal objections were made,
and all concerns resolved.
Following acquisition, DU professional biologists and engineers worked closely with DNR field staff to plan and
implement both robust prairie and wetland restorations, including diverse native forb/grass seed plantings and
complex wetland restorations that required extensive drainage system modification and expensive sediment
removal to restore functioning wetlands for prairie wildlife, especially on Indian Lake WMA in Sibley County, Tyler
and Discors WMA in Lincoln County, and Goose Prairie WMA in Clay County. Private contractors were selected to
perform restoration earth moving work to restore wetland hydrology, remove drainage tile and sediment, and
invasive trees. A combination of private contractors and DNR field staff seeded uplands back to native prairie
grasslands with abundant pollinator forbs. Each of the eight land tracts has been successfully transferred into the
Minnesota DNR’s WMA system, and are fully open to public use, including hunting.
This work was important because Minnesota has lost 90% of our prairie wetlands to drainage and 99% of our
prairie uplands to cultivation. Acquisition and restoration of small wetlands and prairie is critically needed here,
especially for breeding waterfowl in the Prairie Pothole Region of SW Minnesota where DU is focused. The few
remaining prairie wetlands and shallow lakes contained within state WMAs or federal Waterfowl Production Areas
rarely provide optimal wildlife habitat due to their small, fragmented size and isolated juxtaposition.
Acquisition/restoration drained wetlands and cultivated prairie adjacent to existing public lands and public waters
helps create functioning prairie-wetland complexes of habitat for wildlife that are open to public hunting too.