Many of Minnesota's wetlands have been lost and the remainder degraded. Recent tiling and ditching have accelerated this situation. Through this program, shallow lakes and wetlands were designed, constructed, and intensively managed to benefit wetland wildlife and Minnesota residents. Habitat accomplishments from this proposal have enhanced 19,365 acres of wetlands and shallow lakes to benefit waterfowl and wetland wildlife. Work was accomplish through constructed infrastructure, cattail control, and a significant prescribed wetland burn.
This phase of WMA acquisition protected 1802.55 acres of prairie grassland, wetland, and other wildlife habitat as State Wildlife Management Areas open to public hunting. With these 16 acquisition we have exceeded our planned acres of 1362 by more than 400 acres. Breaking down acres by ecological section we acquired 282 acres in the metro and 1520 acres in the prairie. We have a balance of $52,798 of grant funds and $81,837.48 in program income that will be returned despite exceeding our acre goals.
Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) and Native Prairie Bank (NPB) coordinated to accelerate grassland protection efforts. Through this appropriation a total of 1,584 acres were protected. This included 604 RIM acres and 980 NPB acres. Easement acquisition focused on Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan identified landscapes.
