Pheasants Forever purchased a 240 acre tract of land and asked if we would help with the habitat restoration on it. The site was very flat with a county ditch running though it. After reviewing 1938 aerial photos of the property, we noticed an 8-10 acre seasonal wetland with several smaller wetlands nearby, all of which were now drained into the county ditch. NRCS did some soil borings on the site and found that the wetlands had about 2 feet of fill in them, probably from siltation and land-leveling. The survey technician from the St. Cloud Private Lands Office came out to help survey the site. Using two GPS total stations, we generated a one foot interval contour map of the site. By using the old aerial photo, the GPS contours, and the soil borings, we were able to stake the boundaries of the old wetland. Pheasants Forever secured $16,500 of Legislative Committee on Minnesota Resources (LCMR) money to complete the restoration of this wetland. Two 208 Challenger tractors pulling scrapers were used to remove the fill from the 10 acre wetland and three one-acre basins near the large wetland. Some of the fill removed was used to fill in ditches and the rest was laid on the upland around the basin. Three days after the construction was completed, we had a three inch rain that completely filled the wetlands. The waterfowl flocked to these new wetlands during migration last fall.

Grassland restoration was also a part of the restoration of this property in Western Township. Pheasants Forever purchased most of the grass seed and prepared the site for seeding. The Fergus Falls WMD staff coordinated the seed purchase and field preparation. We also conducted the seeding of 234 acres of the property back to native prairie plants with no-till drills. Another 80 acres will be seeded back to native plants during the summer of 2005 in order to complete the seeding of this site.

Pheasants Forever donated the property to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to round-out their Doran Wildlife Management Area which is adjacent to this new tract.