“Build a Wildlife
Area” Partnership Sets Land Dedication Date
Morrison County’s Mud Lake WMA
now over 700 Acres of Public Hunting Land
St. Paul, Minn.
– Minnesota’s “Build a
Wildlife Area” partnership will dedicate a new 318-acre addition
to the existing 400-acre Mud Lake State Wildlife Management Area (WMA)
on Friday, June 25, 2004. The Mud Lake WMA is located in Morrison
County near Little Falls. As a part of the dedication, the
partnership will turn over the land to the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources (MN DNR); opening the land to public hunting and
recreation. The purchase is the result of a two month-long
fundraising campaign created by Pheasants Forever (PF),
Outdoor News, and Game
Fair last August.
“This is the
culmination of one of the most unique and exciting campaigns I’ve
ever been a part of in my seventeen years with Pheasants Forever,”
tells Joe Duggan, PF’s vice president of corporate relations and
marketing. “This land dedication will be a true celebration for a
group of people and businesses with the vision and dedication to
leave a lasting legacy for our children to carry on our outdoor
heritage and hunting tradition. We also wanted this campaign to
blossom into an annual campaign, and in that vein, we’ll announce
our plans to kick off the Build a Wildlife Area’s 2004 campaign at
this dedication. We’re going to make an annual tradition out of
this and put WMAs all over Minnesota as a result. This is what
it’s all about - conservation in action.”
DNR
Commissioner Gene Merriam, DNR Deputy Commissioner Mark Holsten,
Gander Mountain CEO Mark Baker,
Outdoor News Publisher
Glenn Meyer, Game Fair Owner Chuck Delaney, and Pheasants Forever
President/CEO Howard Vincent have all been invited to attend the
event. The media and public are also invited to join the
dedication, which is set to begin at 11AM. For directions,
contact Karlene Carlson at 651-773-2000.
The Build a
Wildlife Area partnership began at last year’s Game Fair in Anoka
County. Over the course of five weeks, the partnership raised
over $50,000 through individual and corporate donations.
Individual contributions to the Build a Wildlife Area campaign
totaled over $16,000. The majority of those individual
contributions were raised through the efforts of the Anoka County
Pheasants Forever chapter at Game Fair. In total, there were
nearly 10,000 separate individual contributions to the campaign.
Corporate
contributions to the campaign totaled over $37,000. Making one of
the most significant donations was Gander Mountain, the
Bloomington-based sporting goods retailer. Joining the
partnership right after its creation, Gander Mountain agreed to
match all individual donations. Consequently, Gander Mountain
contributed $16,000 to the campaign. Founding partners
Outdoor News added
$3,055, while Game Fair contributed $4,612. The Morrison County
chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunter’s Association (MDHA) pitched
in with a $10,000 donation, the MDHA State Habitat Committee
kicked in another $5,000, while Anoka-based Federal Premium joined
the campaign with a $2,500 pledge. North Country Ford, Browning,
and Boyt Harness added $1,000 each. The $50,000 goal was eclipsed
during a September 11, 2003 phone-a-thon on KFAN’s
Fan Outdoors
(AM1130).
That $50,000
was then matched by grants from the MN DNR and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to reach over $150,000. The $150,000 was then
augmented by over $35,000 of local contributions from the
Morrison, Todd, and Stearns County PF chapters, Land of the Loon
MWA, Sauk Centre Conservation Club, Little Falls Sportsman’s Club,
North American Bear Foundation-Little Falls chapter, and Randall
Sportsman’s Club, with the remaining support coming from the MN
DNR (through the small game surcharge account) to purchase the
nearly half million dollar Mud Lake property last December- a
complete list of donors is available from Pheasants Forever upon
request. The Morrison County PF chapter volunteers spent many
hours working with Area Wildlife Manager Beau Liddell and PF’s MN
Conservation Director Matt Holland to complete the legwork to
acquire this property. The Mud Lake acquisition provides improved
access to the existing WMA and will provide critical habitat for
pheasants, waterfowl, wild turkeys, grouse, white-tailed deer, and
a myriad of non-game wildlife.
For additional
information about Pheasants Forever, please visit
www.pheasantsforever.org.
