When waterfowl hunters visit Lake Onamia near Lake Mille Lacs this fall, they'll find a lake choked with wild rice, thanks largely to removal of a dam and work done to the lake outlet.
And if they slip a duck boat into Swan Lake in southern Minnesota they'll find the once-murky waters gin-clear with lush vegetation that should attract flocks of ducks this fall -- thanks to a project last fall to rid the lake of carp.
Both habitat improvement projects were paid for by waterfowl hunters through their purchase of state migratory waterfowl stamps. The state duck stamp -- modeled after the federal duck stamp -- is 30 years old. Over that time, the 3.5 million stamps sold have raised nearly $16 million to help restore wetland wildlife habitat.
The battle to preserve and restore Minnesota's waterfowl habitat has been a long and, some would say, mostly losing affair. Only a fraction of the state's wetlands haven't been drained, and in many areas, those that remain are in poor condition.
But some say the state would be in even worse shape if not for the foresight of those who helped create the duck stamp.
"Yes, we've suffered some terrible losses in terms of wetland quantity and quality, but at least we have something left to work with," said Ray Norrgard of the state Department of Natural Resources. "If it wasn't for the funding we've had, we'd look like Indiana, Illinois or Iowa. We still have a [wetland] base we can build on."
The duck stamp dollars -- about $750,000 annually in recent years -- pays for about 17 percent of the waterfowl habitat work done by the DNR, Norrgard said. But those are key dollars used to construct fish barriers, water-control structures, poisoning of rough fish and other habitat work, as well as waterfowl research, including aerial waterfowl surveys.
Duck stamp dollars paid about $137,000 for the rotenone treatment of Swan Lake, killing carp and other rough fish whose presence had caused turbid water and poor vegetation growth.
Without duck stamp dollars, "I don't know where we would have gotten the money," said Ken Varland, DNR regional wildlife manager. "It's very important."
Future projects to be paid for by duck stamp dollars include treating Geneva Lake in Freeborn County with rotenone at a cost of about $140,000, building a $46,000 fish barrier in Lake Oscar in Otter Tail County, and constructing a $90,000 water-control structure on a wildlife management area lake in Pope County.
The 1977 law creating the state duck stamp was an idea created and lobbied for by duck hunters. The Minnesota Waterfowl Association is credited with initiating the idea and getting it passed at the Legislature.
Howard Hansen, 72, and Glenn Nyquist, 70, both MWA leaders, were instrumental.
"We felt there was nothing being done for ducks in Minnesota, and the DNR said there was no money, so we said we'll get you a state duck stamp," said Nyquist of Bloomington.
"Howard was our lead guy over there," Nyquist said. "He did a lot of lobbying on his own time. We both pounded the halls, and we got it done. We were proud of it at the time, and still are.
"I think it's been very successful."
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