Contact Info
3815 East 80th Street
Bloomington, MN 55425
- Phone:
- 952-854-5900
Description
The Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District (WMD) is a fourteen-county district located in east central Minnesota. It includes portions of the Minnesota, Cannon, and Mississippi river watersheds.
Pre-settlement habitats included prairie pothole, native prairie, oak savannah, and big woods. Currently, the prevalent land use in the district is agriculture and urban development around the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. As the population of the Metropolitan area increases, many historic farms are being converted to suburban homes, hobby farms, and recreational areas.
The Service works to protect the area's natural landscape through private lands habitat restorations, acquisition of waterfowl production areas (WPAs), and management of FmHA conservation easements. Since 1990, the Service has acquired 4,200 acres of WPAs and approximately 1,981 easement acres. Private land restoration projects total 5,854 acres of wetland in 1,230 basins and 2,637 acres of native prairie on 138 sites.
The major breeding species of waterfowl in the district are mallards, blue-winged teal, and wood ducks. Breeding by redheads, ruddy ducks, canvasbacks, hooded mergansers, and gadwalls has also been confirmed.
Map + Directions
Basic Directions
The district office is co-located with the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Office and Visitor Center, off of 34th Avenue in Bloomington, Minnesota, across the street from the Minneapolis/St.Paul Airport Hilton Hotel. From I-494, visitors should take the 34th Avenue exit south to East 80th Street. Turn left on East 80th Street and proceed east for 1/4 mile to the Visitor Center entrance which is on the right.
