Mower County Habitat & Pheasants Forever has reached a tentative deal to significantly increase the size of the one of the county’s largest wildlife management areas.
Pheasants Forever will buy a 92.3-acre addition along the west side of the 335-acre Ramsey Mill Pond Wildlife Management Area (WMA), northwest of Austin.
“We’re awful excited,” said Sue Olson, chapter president, who noted the project has been in the works for three years.
The WMA is along the Cedar River, but it’s very difficult for people to reach the river from the current parking lot. With the new land, a second access road and parking lot will be added on the north side of the WMA to make the river much more accessible to fishing.
Because the property is located along the river, Olson said, restoring the land to its natural state will benefit homes and communities downstream — like Austin — by controlling flooding.
“It’s more important to the general public than to the hunters,” Olson said.
In case of a flood, water will be able to flow into parts of the WMA rather than downstream. How much benefit the land will be for flood mitigation is yet to be seen. Currently, part of the land is tiled for farming and the tiling may not be removed. The restored land would still help reduce flooding if it’s tiled, but not as much.
The land will consist of forest and grass. Some is currently farm land, and will still be harvested this fall.
While the land will be good for deer and pheasant hunters, Olson noted that it will be ideal for turkey hunters.
“Turkeys really like woods and there will be a lot more opportunities for turkey hunters,” she said.
The land will cost about $341,000 with about 90 percent of the cost being paid by a grant from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, according to Olson. The rest is being paid for through funding from the Minnesota Deer Hunters’ Association and the Isaak Walton League.
Olson said the chapter hopes to start work on the land as soon as the deal is finalized, which could take a few weeks to a few months. However, the new parking lot likely won’t go in until next spring.
The land will eventually be turned over to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Once the purchase is finalized, Pheasants Forever will have reinvested more than $1 million in Mower County, according to Olson.