(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)