Phone: 320-589-1001 |
What We Do
The work of the Morris Wetland Management District can be divided into three main areas. We purchase land for wildlife, we manage land for wildlife, and we work with private landowners interested in making voluntary wildlife habitat improvements on their private land.
The Fish and Wildlife Service uses money received from the sale of duck stamps to purchase critical wildlife habitat. Since the program is funded from the sale of duck stamps, the primary emphasis of the program is to provide waterfowl habitat. However, almost all species of prairie wildlife, from birds to frogs and deer to butterflies, benefit from this public land.
Sometimes the Fish and Wildlife Service purchases land outright; these areas become the Waterfowl Production Areas open to public recreation. Other times, we purchase only a partial interest to the land (an easement) to prevent certain types of habitat such as wetlands or unbroken prairie from being destroyed. If you own land in western Minnesota and you would like us to evaluate it for possible purchase, please contact us.
Once we own a piece of land, we manage it to make it as attractive to wildlife as possible. Usually, the land we buy has previously been farmed. Often, the wetland areas have been drained with ditches or tile lines (underground drainage pipes) to dry them up to allow farming. We restore these wetlands by filling in the ditches or digging out the tile lines. If the upland areas have been farmed, we plant them to a mixture of native prairie plants.
Most of our land is a mosaic of large grassy areas dotted with shallow wetlands. This prairie landscape, and the wildlife that lives there, depends on periodic disturbances to thrive. Some of our wetlands contain water control structures that allow us to manipulate water levels to simulate droughts, floods, or anything in between. Most of our wetlands do not have water control structures yet the ancient cycles of drought followed by reflooding still continue. This periodic drying and reflooding makes shallow prairie wetlands more productive for ducks and many other birds than deep marshes that never dry up.
Prairie grasslands also depend on regular disturbance to thrive. The natural grassland disturbances such as wildfire and bison grazing are only a memory now. That means that wildlife managers must simulate these pulses of disturbance to the grasslands. The most common techniques we use are prescribed (controlled) burning, cattle grazing, mowing, and haying. All of these land management techniques rejuvenate the grasslands and reduce tree growth. Of these techniques, prescribed burning is the most important and the most effective. Stability is the enemy of the prairie; without periodic disturbance, the grasslands and grassland wildlife slowly fade away. Without disturbance, trees and brush often begin to grow and most prairie wildlife cannot tolerate trees. Even in areas where trees and brush don't take over, undisturbed grasslands are less vigorous and less productive than those that are occasionally burned, grazed, hayed, or mowed.
Managing 50,000 acres of land entails much more than restoring wetlands and burning grasslands. We maintain over 550 miles of shared property boundary. We annually mow over 200 primitive parking areas for WPA visitors. With well over 1,000 neighbors owning private property adjacent to our land, we frequently deal with issues such as concerns over water levels, weed problems, or law enforcement. All of our work involves the monumental logistical problem of taking care of land that is scattered about far from our headquarters area.
We have a wonderful program in which we develop voluntary agreements with private landowners interested in making wildlife habitat improvements to their land. Under this program, the landowner allows us to work on his or her land and we perform the work at no cost to the landowner. Each year we restore dozens of previously drained wetlands on private land under this program. Other times, we help private landowners plant native grasses on former crop fields or give them free duck nesting structures to maintain in their wetlands. All owners of rural land are eligible whether they are active farmers or owners of recreational land. Contact the Morris Wetland Management District if you want us to evaluate your property and recommend wildlife habitat improvements.
