Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District


	Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District
	3815 American Blvd. East Bloomington, MN 55425 E-mail: minnesotavalley@fws.gov Phone Number: 952-854-5900
	Visit the Refuge's Web Site: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/minnesota_valley_wmd/	The Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District protects habitat for nesting ducks and other wildlife.

Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District
The Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District (WMD) is a fourteen-county district located in east central Minnesota. It includes portions of the Minnesota, Cannon, and Mississippi river watersheds.

The Service works to protect the area's natural landscape through private lands habitat restorations, acquisition of waterfowl production areas (WPAs), and management of FmHA conservation easements. Since 1990, the Service has acquired 4,255 acres of WPAs and approximately 1,898 easement acres. Private land restoration projects total 7,011 acres of wetland in 1,227 basins and 4,849 acres of native prairie on 223 sites.

Getting There . . .
The district office is co-located with the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Office and Visitor Center, off of 34th Avenue in Bloomington, Minnesota, across the street from the Minneapolis/St.Paul Airport Hilton Hotel. From I-494, visitors should take the 34th Avenue exit south to American Blvd East. Turn left on American Blvd East and proceed east for 1/4 mile to the Visitor Center entrance which is on the right.

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Pre-settlement habitats in this area included prairie potholes, tall-grass prairie, oak savanna, river-bottom hardwoods and big woods (maple/basswood complex).

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Since 1990, Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District has provided a tremendous benefit to the landscape, the associated plants and wildlife and the people who live and recreate in the district.

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Habitat management focuses on enhancing the WPAs to provide habitat for nesting and migrating waterfowl. The main goal is maintaining diverse, healthy grasslands adjacent to wetlands with emergent vegetation. This is accomplished by several management tools: wetland and grassland restoration, prescribed burning, and pest plant control.

Previously drained areas and/or croplands are restored to wetlands and planted to warm season grasses on the WPAs and on private lands, via the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. To increase healthy native vegetation, managers conduct controlled burns and mow non-native species.

Waterfowl populations are monitored on both district lands and private lands each spring by conducting breeding pair counts.

Through the Partners for Wildlife Program, district staff is able to bring together various groups with different interests, all of whom share the goal of restoring, maintaining and protecting wildlife habitat. Having multiple stakeholders on these projects creates a sense of ownership and provides the needed impetus to complete it, protect it and continue the work in other areas.