Turning Back Time

The Weber Waterfowl Production Area includes an original eighty-acre site bought from Regina and Anthony Weber in 1965, with additional land purchased between 1970 and 1974, creating a four hundred twenty-one-acre area acquired through money from Federal Duck Stamp sales and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Earlier, the wetland had been drained and most of the land was farmed, and only thirty-three acres of the area are native prairie that has never been farmed. Restoration work, including replanting two hundred thirty acres of grass and restoring wetlands, has helped return habitat that provides food, fresh water, shelter, and space for plants, grasses, flowers, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals, especially ducks, with some species living there year-round and others passing through during migration. A major grassland restoration effort began there in 2006 with support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Kandiyohi County Public Works Department, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while Boy Scout Troop 224 of Willmar, Minnesota, contributed more than five hundred volunteer hours to control invasive species, and Matt Glup developed the parking area as his Eagle Scout project with assistance from local conservation groups, businesses, and individuals.

Minnesota · United States