News Feature                                                            6/13/2007

The Wetlands Reserve Program Providing Multiple Benefits to Wildlife, the Environment and Local Communities

Thanks to a unique partnership between the USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Ducks Unlimited (DU) and with funding assistance from the State of Minnesota’s Environmental Trust Fund (ETF), nearly 40,000 acres of wetland and upland habitat has been restored and permanently protected via the federal Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP).

WRP, a voluntary program which restores and permanently protects wetland and prairie habitat on private land, has become one of the cornerstone programs for restoring critical prairie and wetland habitats in Minnesota.   

ETF support (administered by the Legislative and Citizens’ Commission of Minnesota’s Resources – LCCMR) has been absolutely vital in ensuring the success of WRP in Minnesota.   DU uses ETF monies to hire habitat technicians who work in NRCS offices and assist in promoting and implementing WRP.  

In addition to the impressive acreage accomplishments, WRP has been targeted and implemented within LCCMR designated habitat corridors – areas deemed extremely valuable for wildlife and native plant communities.  Along with its wildlife benefits, WRP has also brought remarkable ecotourism opportunities to small communities throughout Minnesota. 

For example, each year, the Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds in Northwest Minnesota, attracts hundreds of bird watchers to the area to view, observe and record resident and migratory birds.  Numerous fieldtrips are offered within the Border Prairie Project Area of the LCCMR in northwest Minnesota and feature WRP sites.    

 every year. In May of 2007, over 300 people from 23 states attended the event, with some traveling from as far away as Alaska and Texas.  A record 190 species of birds were sighted on field trips during this festival.   

“It’s the high quality habitat that brings these people to our area,” said Cleone Stewart, Tourism Director at the Detroit Lakes Chamber of Commerce. “Festival attendees fill our hotels and restaurants and bring welcomed business to our community.”  David Allen Sibley, the author and illustrator of the Sibley Guide To Birds, was the keynote speaker at this year’s 10^th annual Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds.  “I’m impressed with the great conservation work in this area,” Sibley said.  

Restored wetlands and the associated uplands on WRP sites have become important stop-over sites for migrating birds as evidenced by a rare Red Knot sighting during one Festival of Birds field trip near Rothsay in Wilkin County.  This long range migrant to Alaska and Canadian Arctic is typically found along the coast of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.   

“WRP sites have provided absolutely fantastic habitat for shore birds,” field trip leader Doug Buri said. “This Red Knot is on its way to the Arctic and stopped to refuel. Without programs like the WRP, the LCCMR Habitat Corridor Partnership, and support from DU, we may never have seen this unique bird.  If we provide the habitat, they will come and we are proving it here in the Detroit Lakes area.” 

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