EDITORIAL: Moon Valley's prairie restoration offers unique benefits

May 25—If you live in southeastern Minnesota, you've probably visited Whitewater State Park. It's one of the crown jewels of Minnesota's nationally acclaimed state parks system, and it offers camping, hiking, trout fishing, year-round interpretative programs and some of the most spectacular scenic overlooks in the state. So, when people talk about "going hiking in Whitewater," they almost certainly are talking about the 2,700-acre state park.

But if you are a hunter, or simply a nature lover who prefers to get off the beaten path and away from the crowds, then the term "Whitewater" likely has a much different meaning. The Whitewater Wildlife Management Area — mostly east and north of the state park — encompasses more than 27,000 acres of timbered bluffs, hilltop prairies and wetlands.

That's an area 10 times the size of the state park, but this isn't a place where you go for a walk in shorts and flip-flops. It's rugged, and any trail you find was likely made by deer. If you decide to go exploring, you're well-advised to bring a buddy, a compass and some basic emergency supplies. Untamed nature can be unforgiving, and cell service is spotty at best.

Wildlife Management Areas — or WMAs, as they are commonly known — don't have picnic shelters, restrooms, fire pits or helpful park rangers. If no hunting season is open — say in March, or any summer month — there's a good chance you could pick one at random and wander it all day without seeing another soul.

Minnesota has 1,500 WMAs, encompassing 1.3 million acres, and many of these parcels ended up under state ownership largely because they were of little use to private landowners and/or were far removed from civilization. Sloughs, swamps and wetlands are the norm on WMAs, and many have no agricultural value, nor any potential building sites. They are great places to raise deer and ducks, but not soybeans, and definitely not a family.

That can't be said about the Moon Valley Wildlife Management Area, a 420-acre tract north of Byron that came under Department of Natural Resources' management last fall. The state acquired the land for a purchase price of $2.67 million, using the Outdoor Heritage Fund, and we're not going out on a limb when we predict that this new WMA will quickly become a favorite among Southeast Minnesota hunters, birders and outdoors enthusiasts.

This isn't a chunk of swampland that no one really wanted. This is valuable property that had been owned by the same family since the early 1900s. Nearly 160 acres will converted back to prairie vegetation, with the rest being a mix of timber and river bottom. Anglers will gain three miles of public access to the Zumbro River.

Hunters will pursue deer, turkeys, pheasants and small game on this land. Foragers likely picked plenty of morels there this spring. Wildflowers will flourish, as will the pollinators they attract. Any bird native to Southeast Minnesota will likely be found there.

The word "biodiversity" couldn't be more accurately applied to a piece of land.

Even if you're an avowed city-dweller who has little interest in the outdoors, a property like this offers benefits. A restored prairie is essentially a gigantic sponge that slows runoff into rivers, prevents erosion and captures carbon. A natural area this large, this close to a city the size of Rochester, will help filter air and water for future generations of Minnesotans.

This is precisely the kind of investment Minnesota had in mind in 2008 when voters approved the Legacy Amendment, which imposed a new, three-eighths of one percent sales tax. About one-third of this revenue goes to the Outdoor Heritage Fund, which is earmarked "to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forest and habitat for fish, game and wildlife." Without this dedicated outdoors funding, we have little doubt that the Moon Valley property would have been divided into several smaller parcels and become the site of a half-dozen mansions.

Still, we have one lingering concern, and it applies to more than just the Moon Valley WMA. Simply put, we fear that the state won't fulfill the "management" aspect of this and many other Wildlife Management Areas. Far too many WMAs in Minnesota receive little, if any, attention from state agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources — and nature can't be depended upon to thrive on its own.

Consider this scenario. You purchase a 50-acre parcel of land, half of it open and farmable, the other half forested. You post "No Trespassing" signs, and decide to let nature take its course. Five years later your once-open land will likely be covered in thistles, wild parsnip and other noxious weeds, and your timber might well be infested with buckthorn and other non-native species.

Land can't be ignored. Prairies must be refreshed with fire, and noxious weeds must be halted before they gain footholds. Timber must be thinned, or even selectively clear-cut to let sunlight reach the forest floor. Sometimes even wildlife itself can be a problem, such as when beavers become too abundant. With no wolves around, people must trap beavers and remove dams that are causing problems.

It's great that Minnesota has a dedicated source of funding to purchase and preserve lands for future generations of public use, but right now too much of the burden for maintaining WMAs is falling on organizations like Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited and local outdoors clubs whose members donate their time, sweat and money to kill buckthorn, plant seedlings, control weeds and remove dead trees.

Those organizations deserve a massive thank you from the state, but Minnesota shouldn't depend on volunteers for this kind of work. We are roughly 20 years into a 50-year objective to acquire 700,000 acres of new WMAs statewide, and it's both unrealistic and short-sighted to think that these lands can be managed effectively without a significant, ongoing investment in staff and equipment.

In other words, the job isn't done after the DNR builds a parking lot, restores some prairie, plants oak seedlings and puts up "Wildlife Management Area" signs.

At that point, the real work has just begun.