About 120 people, including about 80 students from Ortonville Elementary School gathered at a former soybean field five miles east of Clinton, Minn. on Friday, May 2, to dedicate the Centennial Waterfowl Production Area (WPA), a 596-acre restored wetland that, when filled with water, will be a rich nesting ground for migratory waterfowl. The lack of winter runoff and spring rains made the project area appear more like a dry, contoured black desert than a wetland haven for breeding migratory waterfowl. But that didnt matter to those present, most of whom had a part in making the project a reality.
"While we certainly would have preferred to have water and thousands of ducks out there for you to see, its also fitting for all of us to see the beginnings of this project, which over the years will provide nesting habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife for generations to come," said Steve Delehanty, manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Morris Wetland Management District. Delehanty and his staff oversaw the project, which was made possible by area land owners, Ducks Unlimited, USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service, Big Stone County, North American Wetland Conservation Council, Upper Minnesota River Watershed District and the fourth graders at Ortonville Elementary.
There were short speeches by staffers David Sturrock and Tom Meium representing Senator Norm Coleman and Rep. Collin Peterson, by Bob Usgaard from Ducks Unlimited and by Robyn Thorson, new regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But of all the dignitaries taking the stage, none got the rousing reception served up for Kyle Kirkeby. Kirkeby, a fourth grade teacher at Ortonville Elementary, incorporates wetland education into his conservation curriculum. His students not only learn about wetlands, they raise money for area wetland restoration projects. "We learn about habitat loss and the planets diminishing rain forests, but we cant really do anything here for those far away places," Kirkeby, a waterfowler, said. "We chose to do something right here."
The students raised money by selling passes for school privileges such as chewing gum. After two years, the fourth graders (now fifth and six graders) had amassed $4,386, not a lot of money in the world of wetland restorations. But this is where the students learned another lesson, a lesson in the magic of matching grants. The students money was matched with $4,000 by the Citizens for Big Stone Lake, a local citizen action group, and $4,000 from the Upper Minnesota River Watershed District. The savvy students had now amassed $12,386 for their wetland project and they werent finished yet. Big Stone County added another $12,500. Add another $34,000 from Ducks Unlimited; $49,750 from a Natural North American Wetland Conservation Act grant (administered by the Service) and $171,982 from the USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Centennial WPA project had its bankroll.
According to Diane Radermacher, administrator of the Upper Minnesota River Watershed District, Kirkeby and his students have been involved in wetland projects since 1995 "Its a lot easier to go to county commissioners with plans for wetland projects when they learn school students are behind the projects," Radermacher said. "In the past eight years the students have had a hand in restoring 43 individual basins totaling 460 acres of water."
Most of the land for the project was farmed by Bill Moberg, whose efforts to earn a living from the drained wetland were frustrated by regular flooding. Moberg was instrumental in encouraging landowners to participate in the project. Neighboring landowners entered into voluntary easement agreements with the USDA, or sold land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
During upcoming seasons, the Service will begin seeding the upland portions of the Centennial WPA with a mixture of 13 types of wildflowers and nine types of grasses including purple prairie coneflower, wild bergamot, smooth blue aster, blue grama and little bluestem. The native plants not only attract waterfowl, but an abundance of songbirds and other wildlife.
The Centennial WPA is named in honor of the 100th birthday of the National Wildlife Refuge System. In March 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt set aside three acres on tiny Pelican Island, Florida, to protect pelicans and other birds. Since then, the National Wildlife Refuge System has grown to a nationwide network of more than 95 million acres, 540 refuges and 3,000 waterfowl production areas, including a 596-acre plot marked by a lone bronze marker on Country Road 6 in Big Stone County.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
