In the Weeds: October 2007

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters annually complete over 23,000 habitat projects. "In the Weeds" takes a closer look at these chapter projects. This month, we profile the 60-acre Meyer Wildlife Production Area (WPA) in southwestern Otter Tail County in Minnesota.

The Players

• Otter Tail County Chapter of Pheasants Forever
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Don and Luella Meyer

The Plan

Did you know only one percent of all native prairies that existed when pioneers first arrived are still intact? Don and Luella Meyer possessed such a tract of land in southwestern Otter Tail County. Don, who recently passed away, took hay off the 60-acre parcel, but otherwise left it untouched, as he said he got better yields off the native prairie acreage that way. Indeed, tests confirmed that the parcel has never been plowed. Such pieces of land are highly coveted by state and federal agencies.

The Project

The Meyers sold the 60-acre tract of native prairie grass to the Otter Tail County chapter of Pheasants Forever in March of 2006. PF borrowed the purchase money from the national office and kept it in trust until last November when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) bought it from PF. The USFWS will conduct prescribed burn on the piece in the future, a natural way of reinvigorating the prairie.

The Payoff

The Meyer WPA will forever be a wildlife corridor that provides critical prairie wildlife habitat for pheasants, deer, waterfowl and other wildlife.

If you have story ideas, dog photos, pre-1980 hunting photos and requests for future On The Wing consideration, please send correspondence to ahauck@pheasantsforever.org.

Return to On The Wing: October 2007

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