NWTF helps provide new public hunting grounds
The NWTF recently teamed up with the Dunn County Fish and Game and Pheasants Forever to purchase 157 acres of land from Chris Link in Eastern Dunn County in Wisconsin.
The parcel is located at the end of Klatt Lane in Red Cedar Township. The major goal of this project is to provide more habitat for all types of wildlife and to provide more public hunting opportunities. The land will be open to public hunting after the crops are harvested in the fall of 2003.
One of the keys to increasing wildlife populations is providing high quality habitat at critical times of the year. The Link parcel has the potential to provide all of these components in addition to providing essential habitat for many other species of birds and animals.
The property consists of approximately 100 acres of cropland, 47 acres of wetland, and 10 acres of woodland. Several wildlife habitat improvement projects are planned for the property. Two dikes will be constructed to create about four acres of open water.
Approximately 90 acres of cropland will be converted to native grasses and wild flowers that will provide nesting cover for pheasants and ducks. The 10-acre oak woodlot will be expanded by planting trees and wildlife shrubs that will benefit turkeys and deer. Corn and sorghum food plots will be planted each year adjacent to the wetland that already provides good winter cover.
Local funding for the project has been a cooperative effort. Approximately $100,000 was raised with the Dunn County Fish and Game contributing $20,000, the NWTF, through the new Dunn County Chapter, chipping in $27,000 and the Red Cedar and Chippewa Valley Chapter of Pheasants forever contributing $53,000.
The remainder of the funding came through grants from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) and the State of Wisconsin, Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program. The land will be donated to the Department of Natural Resources and become part to the Muddy Creek Wildlife Area.
The project was coordinated by Dan Prestebak, Conservation Planner with the Dunn County Land Conservation Department and co-chairman of the Red Cedar Pheasants Forever's, Habitat Committee. It marks the first time that Pheasants Forever has joined with the NWTF in a land acquisition project anywhere in the United States.
