(bells chime) - [Bret] This week on Prairie Sportsman we're heading out on a pheasant hunt on the first property ever acquired by Pheasants Forever.

We'll also be introducing you to the Worthington Wellhead Protection Plan.

Next, we'll take a look at the Lawns to Legumes program which provides resources to homeowners for creating pollinator friendly plantings in their own yards.

And we'll join Nicole Zempel for a fast forage.

Hey, it's Bret Amundson with Prairie Sportsman.

Welcome to another show.

We got a great one for you and it starts now.

(adventurous music) - [Narrator] Funding for Prairie Sportsman is provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota resources and by Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farm, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web @shalomhillfarm.org, and by Live Wide Open and Western Minnesota Prairie Waters.

(adventurous music) - [Bret] It's no secret that wildlife populations ebb and flow with the amount of habitat available to them.

The most obvious example is the rise and fall of acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve program.

The population of pheasants mirrors the same up-and-down fluctuation.

Creating and preserving habitat can go a long ways in protecting wildlife, from upland birds to whitetail deer, along with waterfowl, songbirds, and pollinating insects.

All important cogs in the ecosystem machine.

Pheasants Forever recognize the importance of habitat from the beginning and made it their mission to conserve wildlife through habitat improvements and conservation advocacy.

In 1986, the Nobles County chapter acquired their first piece of property, and opened it up to the public as a wildlife management area.

It was called Pheasant Run One.

(adventurous music) Here it is, Minnesota opener, 2022.

Little bit brisker than we were expecting it today.

We got a strong wind.

Last we checked, it was only 29 degrees here this morning.

Not really the weather we've had in recent years for the pheasant opener, but we're down here by Worthington for the governor's pheasant opener.

There's a lot of land around here.

These pheasant runs, I think there's 43 of them now, and we were told about a couple of different public spots that we should check out here today.

But when we came by, and we came out early to make sure that we could get on some land 'cause it's gonna get busy around here today.

We came by Pheasant Run number one and I've always wanted to hunt it.

Wasn't planning on hunting it this morning, but we got here.

There's nobody here yet, so we pulled in and parked, and we're about to go hunt the first ever land that Pheasants Forever ever acquired.

You ready, tiny?

Let's go find some birds.

The highlight of this region for me is a Worthington Wells Wildlife Management area located six miles southwest of Worthington.

This area not only provides habitat for wildlife and public hunting opportunities but also protects the main water source for the area's residents.

- The community struggled with finding water and did extensive exploration for years and years.

This was identified as a potential source, and it has turned into pretty much the motherload.

And we continued local exploration efforts for decades and spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars after that.

And this is it.

This is where the water is.

There isn't anything like this anywhere within 30 miles Of Worthington.

- [Bret] Thankfully, some like-minded individuals from different organizations were able to partner up to protect the water.

- Pheasants Forever, Okabena-Ocheda Watershed District did a lot of work down here before the utility ever got involved.

It's all about the partnerships.

That's how you get something like this done.

- [Bret] From that first land acquisition in 1986, there have been a lot of strategic purchases along the way, including protecting the areas that need it most.

- Currently within the designated wellhead protection area, that's just under 2000 acres.

- 2000.

- [Bret] Has there been any way to measure what effect that it's had on the water?

- You know, a lot of water systems in rural areas like this and ag communities experience fairly significant problems with nitrates.

We have never had a nitrate problem.

Now can I directly attribute that to what's happened down here?

Probably not, but I'm a firm believer that it's made a huge difference.

- [Bret] Well, when you're in a heavy ag community like this, and you don't have the problem, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's easy to connect some dots.

- [Scott] Yeah, yeah.

- [Bret] The 2000 acres protecting the wellhead are all connected, Meaning you could walk nearly 15 miles without leaving public land.

- And it's those complexes that really enhance you know, wildlife conservation preservation.

(big band music) - [Bret] To fully understand what's going on here in Worthington, you have to go back about 100 years.

- I found articles dating all the way back to the 1920s where the city imposed bans on using municipal water for irrigation purposes.

- [Bret] Then in the 1950s, they identified this area as a good place to get water.

And in the 1960s, they started to put wells in.

- Pretty significant investment.

We're probably about seven, eight miles from Worthington as the crow flies.

So built an 18-inch transmission line, secured easements, and started producing water down here here.

- [Bret] Expensive projects like this just don't happen.

They take place with the help of prominent businessmen.

Like E.O.

Olson.

- He was the founder of the Worth Moore Creamery which eventually became the Campbell Soup Company.

- [Bret] Olson passed away in 1966 and left a large amount of money into the E.O.

Olson Trust Fund, which funded and continues to fund much of Worthington's water projects.

And to protect these new wells in the aquifer, it was decided to create an impoundment.

And in the 1970s, the 180 acre Lake Bella was formed.

- Interestingly enough, Bella was E.O.

Olson's wife's name.

- [Bret] After the creation of that impoundment, the local community worked with different partners to create 2000 acres of habitat protection around the wellhead.

- [Scott] One of the latest acquisitions that we did was about a little over 40-acre acquisition.

Four acres of that was seated into pollinators, and you should have seen the explosion of color there this summer.

It was just incredible.

- [Bret] Volunteers Gordon Hyde Camp and Scott Rawl worked together to put that four-acre pollinator plot in.

It took Gordon two days on a farm all 460 with a two-bottom plow to get it done.

- I'd buy the best mix, which is over 100 different varieties of wildflower.

- 100 different varieties of wildflowers, wow.

As we drove around, we saw sign after sign of public land in more layers of filtering grasses for the water supply.

Now our original plan was to hunt one of these WMAs that protected the wellhead.

We just weren't sure which one.

Scott Rawl offered up some tips, and a few others mentioned that if we were gonna hunt around there, we needed to get there early.

So we decided to call it a night and head out the next day at sunrise.

We started scouting for a place to hunt early and came across Pheasant Run One around 7:00 AM.

Finally, after a painfully long wait, it was almost time to hunt.

(rock music) Two minutes.

It didn't take us long to know if we'd be getting into the pheasants or not.

As we watched the clock tick down to starting time, the action was already heating up.

We're just about to get started, and there's a guy hunting across the road, and he just put up like four or five birds that flew over to our side of the road.

So whether or not we had pheasants here to begin with, there's definitely some pheasants right up in front of us now.

So maybe we can be done quick.

(grass rustling) (rock music) There's a rooster under the corn right there.

(grass rustling) (rock music) There's another one flying out.

(grass rustling) (rock music) Birds don't know what to do right now.

There's a ditch here.

There's another one.

Oh, that hawk is trying to catch those pheasants.

Look at 'em.

(grass rustling) That's what's pushing all those pheasants out.

That hawk is bombarding all these hen pheasants.

Oh, there's a whole pile of pheasants piling in right in front of us.

- [Dan] Oh yeah.

- Oh yeah.

That was wild though.

We were wondering what was keeping all those pheasants up right away.

It was a hawk this whole time.

And there's like eight of them that just flew in up here.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) Right there.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) I think the stitch is pretty dry.

Oh, yeah.

(grass rustling) (rock music) Oh, that hawk was eating that pheasant.

Tiny just saved that pheasant's life.

Oh, she's gonna get a little soft here.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) Oh, real young.

Real young pheasant right there.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) Hen.

Watch her right here.

She's on one.

She's pointing.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) Watch her right here.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) Some fresh scent.

There he is.

Hen.

(Bret laughs) Good, Tiny, good, good.

That was cool.

Here's a hen.

There's a hen.

(Bret whistles) That hawk is still harassing hens.

There might be another one right here.

I hear peeping.

Hen, rooster, rooster!

(gun fires) There's our first one.

Whew, there might be more birds up here.

We need to keep trucking.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) I can't tell.

Here's a real young bird.

(grass rustling, wind blowing) Well, this hunt couldn't have been going any better.

I quickly had my two birds in the bag.

Then Dan and I switched.

He grabbed the shotgun, and I grabbed the camera, and soon, he only needed one more bird, and we'd be done.

- [Dan] Just for fun.

It's 9:45.

She might put up another one here quick.

So we're gonna get this one in the bag and keep rolling.

This is the best opener I've ever had.

- [Bret] No question.

This has been a fast and furious hunt, and we've probably timed it just right when a congregation of birds just happened to be right where we started, and it's almost like they knew we were down to one and saved the best for last.

- Hen, hen, hen.

Oh my gosh.

There's a rooster.

(gun fires) (Dan and Bret laugh) We're done.

- [Bret] That bird.

- Whoop, ah, that's a young rooster.

(Dan laughs) Well, no sooner did I put my phone away so it must have been 9:46 and we flushed.

What was that, big group and just one lonely rooster in there.

It's coming home for dinner.

That's so cool.

Nobles County.

Beautiful land, first public land acquisition for Pheasants Forever.

I see why they wanted it so bad.

- [Bret] It's no secret that creating and preserving habitat can increase your wildlife populations in the area, but as the people of Worthington have found out, it can also play an important role in keeping your water clean.

(upbeat music) - [Dana] It was obvious that first year that the flowering plants came around that there were way more pollinators.

- They packed such an amazing punch though.

Just this amazing onion-y flavor.

(pensive music) - [Narrator] The endangered rusty patched bumblebee became the official Minnesota state bee in 2019 to draw attention to pollinators in decline.

Homeowners like Dana Boyle of Woodbury, Minnesota, are concerned that bees, birds, and butterflies need more habitat to thrive.

So she turned her neatly manicured turf grass lawn into a bug hotel.

- This isn't for everyone.

I get that.

What I am offering here is an alternative vision for people to be able to say when the time is right if they want to, here's a way to do it.

It was obvious that first year that the flowering plants came around, that there are way more pollinators.

But last year it was really exciting.

I saw my first rusty patch bumblebees and they were coming on the red monarda, and that was so exciting knowing that they are an endangered species and very rare.

- [Narrator] Dana learned about native plantings when she volunteered at the Minnesota State Fair's Blue Thumb booth that promoted the state's new Lawns to Legumes program.

- I really got to know a lot more, and I became inspired.

So I thought, how can I bring this back to my own garden?

(relaxing music) - [Narrator] Funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, and designed by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, Lawns to Legumes was launched in 2019 with three main components, $350 cost share grants to help residents with native plantings, large demonstration neighborhood grants of up to $40,000, and online education to help anyone design pollinator-friendly yards.

- These projects can be really rich sources of pollen and nectar 'cause we have around 450 species of native bees, but there's butterflies and moths and beetles and hummingbirds.

Lots of different pollinators that can be benefited.

The more of these projects we have across different areas, the more insects we can benefit.

- Lawns to Legumes provided me with was a $350 grant which was a very small portion of what I spent to convert my yard from basically sod to native Pennsylvania sedge.

But the educational value was really a treasure.

The first year was probably about four years ago when I started to make this change.

I asked a friend of mine who is a professional landscape architect and designer to help me make a plan.

They started with areas that I knew were kind of marginal, and I call those sort of the parentheses around the main front yard, which was all sod.

When it came time to actually convert the big picture, I hired a different landscape designer who is known for gentle transitions is what he calls it.

(upbeat music) The Pennsylvania sedges here.

I think I bought 1200 or 1500 plugs, and they were probably $3 each or something like that.

They mechanically removed the sod, and then they laid down brown paper, followed by mulch and wetted that whole area down, and that allowed them to then plant the plugs of the Pennsylvania sedge.

(upbeat music) This one was chosen because it works well in sun and shade, and it only grows about seven inches or so, and then it flops over.

It spreads really quickly through rhizome so little sprouts will come up from under the mulch.

The roots are very deep, so you know it's picking up water from under the ground without needing to be watered unless it's a really, really dry spell.

- [Narrator] The native sedge is bordered by plants and wildflowers that attract bugs and birds.

- This is a primarily sunny spot, and so what we have here are some wonderful purple comb flowers native to Minnesota.

Here is a blooming Missouri primrose.

The ground cover is wild strawberry.

This really spreads, and it smells so delicious when the strawberries are out.

There's butterfly milkweed.

Baptisia has already bloomed, as has the prairie smoke.

Here is some monarda, native monarda that'll be blooming pretty soon and attracting the bees.

We've got hyssop here.

(upbeat music) I had a bee house installed.

This is for solitary super pollinator bees.

You can actually see where the bees have gone into these channels to lay their eggs, and they fill 'em with pollen, and the people who made the bee houses are friends of mine.

And they will come later in the summer, collect the eggs, store them in refrigeration, until next year and then bring them back.

(upbeat music) Here's a fun little tableau.

(Dana laughs) We've got some prairie drop seed.

I love these.

This is a coneflower that is not native to Minnesota.

Not everything has to be native according to some people's theory, and I really love that because if there's a plant that you really like or a color that you really wanna add, it's fine.

There's blue vervain here which is a lovely native-to-Minnesota plant.

(upbeat music) I use zero chemicals on this property.

We are located close to a really special wetland called the Tamarack Nature Preserve.

So everything that comes from my yard is gonna flow through it.

The maintenance for this yard is so minimal, and that's one of the best parts about it.

It's already early July, and I have never watered yet this season.

- [Narrator] Except for a few questions from her Homeowner's Association about how quickly the such plugs would fill in, her neighbors approve.

- [Dana] I hear people say all the time yours is my favorite yard in the neighborhood.

(upbeat music) (relaxing music) - [Narrator] The nonprofit Metro Bloom's Blue Thumb program distributes the cost share grants that come with guidance.

- They might do something in their yard like installing bee lawns or native plantings in their yards.

And they do that a lot with the help of coaches like Master Gardeners and Minnesota Water Stewards that help guide them through their project and answer questions about what they're doing.

- [Dan] With the cost share grants, we'll be funding around 4,000 grants that is distributed around the state.

- And that's not just limited to homeowners.

Renters who have their landlord's permission can also apply for the program, whether that means putting in a traditional garden or putting in potted plants or raised bed gardens on balconies, for example.

- [Narrator] Because smaller bees can only fly about 200 meters, the more places they can stop and refuel, the better.

- [Lauren] We need plantings every couple houses so that we can create pathways for those pollinators.

(upbeat music) - [Dan] And then we have a demonstration neighborhoods component that's focused on developing habitat corridors.

Local organizations can apply for funding to develop these corridors in partnership with residents.

We currently have 26 of those established around the state.

We have some in north Minneapolis that are very urban.

We have others that are more rural like in Cottonwood County or up in Carlton County.

Theirs goes through much of their county into the Fond du Lac Indian reservation.

There's one down in Winona that's been very successful down through Oklee, and they've been spotting the rusty patch Bumblebee there.

(upbeat music) There's many other environmental benefits to these projects as well.

They collect excess rainwater, they provide bird habitat, they sequester carbon, they decrease emissions from mowing.

There's human health benefits to these types of landscapes as well.

- [Narrator] Besides grants, Lawns to Legumes provides online education and Blue Thumb workshops.

- And that's a time for people to come and learn about trees and rain gardens and native plantings and bee lawns and all of the exciting things that we can do in our own spaces.

They are virtual so they are open to anybody, very accessible statewide.

- I've had people come up and say, "We're gonna start to do something like this in our yard, and we're gonna start small," and I'll give them some ideas.

- It's something that regular people can do.

It's something that we can each individually take action on.

We can each plant something in our yard that's going to make a difference.

(upbeat music) (country music) - I am sitting in a sea of wild prairie onions.

It's a little early in season for them right now.

Normally, they have this beautiful kind of purple, pink, white bloom on top, and so they're much easier to see.

But we are gonna show you what they look like prior to their blooming.

And they love rocky outcrop areas, prairie lands, they do great in kind of places you would never expect them to thrive such as this cactus filled, rocky outcrop area.

They are all over.

And so you're gonna have that onion smell.

They have different than wild garlic.

They have one stem going straight up.

The prairie onion has a few different green stems coming up from it.

And then right here, this is what's gonna turn into that really pretty pink-ish, purple, white-ish whorl bloom.

And so the best time to harvest the wild prairie onion is late July, early August.

This is a threatened native plant due to habitat loss.

It's why it's threatened as are most wild native plants.

I harvest them after they have gone to seed.

And so I'll let that seed scatter, and then when I do dig up the bulb again, I just take the root tips and put that back into the ground and then just take the bulb, and the whole plant is edible as well.

They're there and they're back here and they blend in with the grass.

And so you, you know, those blue purple, blue pink blooms are a giveaway for them, and they're much easier to detect and spot later in the season.

We have dug one partially up.

And so I never dig a big hole.

I just gently go under the soil to get to the bulb.

And this is a really large one.

They're typically, I find them a little bit smaller than this.

So this is a beautiful wild prairie onion.

And they are smaller, right, than say, our garden onions.

They pack such an amazing punch though, just this amazing onion-y flavor and a bulb goes a very long way.

And so what I'm gonna do is cut off those root tips and put them right back where it came from.

And then I am going to cover that back up so you won't even know I was here.

(adventurous music) - [Narrator] Funding for Prairie Sportsman is provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources and by Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farm, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota, on the web @shalomhillfarm.org, and by Live Wide Open and Western Minnesota Prairie Waters.