Governor’s pheasant opener hosted in Cedar Cedar River Watershed hosted the 9th annual Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener in October 2019. Gov. Tim Walz harvested a pheasant while hunting Oct. 12 the land around CRWD’s upstream Dobbins 1 berm for stormwater storage west of Dexter. It was his first opener as governor although he participated in the past as an invited guest. Overall, 170 hunters joined Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in fields around Austin, which hosted the event for the first time. Most hunting land was in the Cedar River Watershed. Hunters took 44 roosters despite wet, cold conditions and delayed field harvests. More than 450 people also attended the opener’s Oct. 11 community banquet in Austin. The opening festivities also included a public dedication of a future parcel of public hunting land northwest of Austin that was donated by the Worlein Family. With the recent resurgence in the pheasant population in the Austin area, conservationists and hunters in Mower County were excited to showcase the local hunting resources. Sandy Forstner, chair of the opener’s Austin committee, said the event was a “way to showcase not only the many hunting
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz holds a pheasant that he harvested Oct. 12 at CRWD’s upper Dobbins 1 berm in Dexter Township as part of the pheasant opener.
opportunities available surrounding Austin, but also the wide range of tourism opportunities in the immediate area.” Austin was picked mostly based on the area’s hunting land, event facilities and community support. The Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener was initiated in 2011 by Gov. Mark Dayton.
MN CREP continues to add native prairie More acres of marginal cropland in the Cedar River watershed are being restored permanently to native prairie and wetlands through a state-federal partnership. At the end of 2019, about 344 acres in Mower County had been funded for permanent restoration in the Cedar watershed through the MN CREP program. Countywide, about 360 acres have been enrolled overall in MN CREP. Mower County landowners are encouraged to contact CRWDMower SWCD to learn more about MN CREP, which places a focus on flood-prone or erosive acres. “Low crop prices and unusually high amounts of rain in 2019 might have farmers looking at their fields differently,” said James Fett, CRWD’s watershed technician who oversees the local program. “MN CREP gives them an opportunity to retire problematic acres from production and turn them into excellent wildlife habitat that also benefits water quality.” MN CREP, which pays 100 percent of the costs for restoring cropland to wetlands and prairie, is a perpetual easement in which landowners retain private ownership of enrolled acres. The program aims to improve water quality and wildlife habitat through permanent conservation easements. Created to protect and restore up to 60,000 acres of marginal cropland, MN CREP is available across 54 southern and
Crews work in fall 2019 to restore prairie and wetland permanently on about 75 acres of former cropland in Red Rock Township near Roberts Creek, a Cedar River tributary.
western Minnesota counties, including Mower. The program aims to achieve its goals mostly through the use of vegetative buffer strips, wetland restoration and drinking water wellhead protection. Under MN CREP, restoration work typically involves restoring hydrology through tile breaks, tile blocks, scrapes, embankment construction and daylighting tiles, among other practices. Each MN CREP site gets seeded with a highly diverse mixture of native grasses and forbs that are beneficial to wildlife and pollinator habitat. This practice also prevents erosion while filtering surface and ground water.