7050 E Highway 101
Shakopee, MN 55379
952-496-4141
[email protected]
Hunters, trappers and wildlife watchers in Carver and Scott counties and a portion of Hennepin counties benefit from the management, habitat and oversight work of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Shakopee staff.
Area Wildlife Supervisor Diana Regenscheid along with one full-time staff member oversee 26 state Wildlife Management Areas totaling more than 3,500 acres. These lands – wetlands, grasslands, blufflands, river bottoms and remnants of the Big Woods – provide hunting and non-hunting recreation such as bird watching, hiking and nature photography.
"These WMAs a
re extensively used by local residents and citizens from throughout the seven-county metro area," said Regenscheid. "They are often the only undeveloped or uncropped land in a given area that provides the wild food and shelter on which game and non-game species depend."
- What we do
At work for you
A prescribed burn to benefit habitat in the Shakopee wildlife work area.
- Maintain 25-40 facilities (parking lots, gates, trails, water control structures, dikes, etc.) and about 2 miles of access road. Maintain 20-30 miles of WMA boundary annually. Sign two migratory waterfowl feeding and resting areas annually.
- Develop and maintain 35-plus burn plans for prairie grassland and woodland management on about 1,200 acres. Conduct 6-12 prescribed burns per year, in addition to other habitat management projects.
- Assess terrestrial and aquatic vegetation on 10-15 WMAs and three designated wildlife lakes. Monitor and control noxious weeds on 100-200 acres annually.
- Provide habitat enhancement, protection, wildlife technical/nuisance guidance and hunting information to private landowners, crop growers, cities and other local governments (e.g. county land-use and water planning efforts), golf courses, non-profit groups, local callers and external partners.
- Pursue and complete land acquisition of available parcels adjoining existing WMAs or new WMAs in focus areas, roughly 100-200 acres per year.
- Administer wildlife surveys (e.g. waterfowl, pheasant, predator, etc). Participate in annual hunting season framework development and special surveys (e.g. chronic wasting disease).