TRUMAN, Minn. (Sept. 19, 2026) – What was once a small, landlocked wildlife area surrounded by agricultural land has become nearly 300 acres of permanently protected wetland and prairie habitat in southern Minnesota.
Ducks Unlimited supporters, conservation partners, and community members gathered Saturday at Gleam Wildlife Management Area west of Truman to celebrate that transformation and recognize the partnerships that made it possible.
The $2.2 million conservation effort expanded Gleam WMA from approximately 27 acres to 293 acres, restored more than 51 acres of wetlands, established native prairie habitat, and opened previously inaccessible public land for hunting and other outdoor recreation.
“This is a dream come true for a kid like me, to be restoring wetlands on the prairies where ducks need it and then be able to come back here and celebrate with everyone,” said Jake Chronister, Ducks Unlimited Regional Biologist.
The project brought together Ducks Unlimited, Fox Lake Conservation League, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, The Conservation Fund, the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, private landowners, DU supporters, and other conservation partners. The completed lands have been transferred into Minnesota’s Wildlife Management Area system for permanent protection and management.
Turning farmland back into wetlands
The expansion began with a series of land acquisitions surrounding the original Gleam WMA.
Fox Lake Conservation League acquired the 232-acre Krusemark tract in 2019 with support from Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund and later acquired an additional 34-acre adjacent property. Together, those acquisitions provided access to the original landlocked WMA and created an opportunity for restoration on a much larger scale.
Restoring the landscape meant reversing decades of drainage and agricultural modifications.
Chronister told those attending the dedication that crews removed more than 12,000 feet of drainage tile, or more than two miles. They also removed a lift station that had been used to pump water from the property, installed ditch plugs and a water-control structure, and moved approximately 9,000 cubic yards of accumulated sediment out of wetland basins.
The result is a landscape that once again holds water.
Chronister said the response from wildlife was almost immediate. Trumpeter swans appeared while restoration work was still underway, sandhill cranes have nested on the property, and river otters have been observed using the restored habitat.
During spring migration, the wetlands also attracted thousands of waterfowl.
“I have not been by this in three years and not seen a duck on almost every wetland,” Chronister said.
A second life for a small WMA
The Gleam dedication also coincided with the 75th anniversary of Minnesota’s Wildlife Management Area system, which began in 1951 through the state’s “Save the Wetlands” program.
Minnesota DNR Southern Region Wildlife Manager Joe Stangel said many of the earliest WMAs were small parcels created primarily to protect wetlands from drainage. Some lacked adequate public access or surrounding upland habitat.
Gleam was one of them.
For roughly 50 years, the original property remained a small, isolated wildlife area. Stangel said its transformation illustrates why those properties remain important even when opportunities to expand them may take decades to materialize.
“You can’t give up on them,” Stangel said. “This is a great example of where local partners and national partners can come together and make things happen and create better access and better habitat around these small isolated WMAs.”
Minnesota DNR Area Wildlife Supervisor Brian Nyborg said the expansion has created a dramatically different public resource.
Native prairie establishment continues to mature across the newer portions of the property, while DNR staff will manage the restored wetlands and uplands for wildlife and public use.
“People will be out here for generations, celebrating our successes, hunting pheasants, hunting deer, hunting ducks,” Nyborg said.
Local partnerships drive conservation
Speakers repeatedly credited the project’s success to an unusually strong network of local conservation organizations in Martin County.
Fox Lake Conservation League played a central role in acquiring the property and working with landowners and other conservation groups.
Tim Eisenmenger of Fox Lake Conservation League said the land’s history showed why restoring wetlands made sense. Farming the low-lying property required extensive drainage infrastructure, including the pumping system ultimately removed during restoration.
He also credited DU and other partners with bringing specialized expertise that a local organization could not easily provide on its own.
“The best thing we ever did was when we joined up and we got with The Conservation Fund and Ducks Unlimited,” Eisenmenger said. “They know how to do the restorations and do them right.”
Stangel said that level of local cooperation has helped Martin County accomplish something unusual in southern Minnesota, with conservation organizations working collectively to significantly expand public wildlife habitat.
A “Field of Dreams” for wildlife
For Stacy Salvevold, Minnesota Senior Field Representative for The Conservation Fund, the results of that collaboration were especially apparent during a visit to Gleam earlier this summer.
She recalled arriving on a sunny day and hearing prairie birds and insects across the restored grasslands before walking toward one of the wetland water-control structures.
There, two river otters surfaced and began playing in the restored wetland.
“I grew up in southern Minnesota, folks. I have never seen river otters in the middle of a cornfield,” Salvevold told the crowd. “This is our field of dreams.”
Salvevold said Gleam demonstrates why organizations with different areas of expertise are essential to large conservation projects. The Conservation Fund helps navigate complicated land transactions, Ducks Unlimited provides wetland restoration and engineering expertise, the Minnesota DNR manages prairie restoration and long-term habitat, and local organizations provide relationships and knowledge that make projects possible on the ground.
“We could not do what happens out here without them,” she said. “That is why this partnership is so successful.”
Celebrating conservation on the ground
The dedication concluded with the unveiling of a plaque recognizing the supporters who helped make the project possible and a group photograph at the restored WMA.
For Doug Hartke, Minnesota DU State Campaign Co-Chair, the celebration represented the culmination of years of work in Martin County, but not the end of it. Hartke said local conservation organizations continue to pursue additional properties and opportunities to expand wildlife habitat in the county.
“We have to celebrate the successes, and this is unique,” Hartke said. “As we watch this enhance and improve, as the grasses come back, it’s amazing.”
Hartke credited the cooperation among local conservation organizations for helping sustain that work.
“We’ve got a great coalition,” Hartke said. “Nobody works together like we are here. It’s phenomenal.”
For the supporters gathered at Gleam, Saturday offered an opportunity to see what years of fundraising, land acquisition, engineering, restoration, and partnership have already produced.
Wetlands have returned. Native prairie is becoming established. Waterfowl, prairie birds, swans, cranes, and even river otters are using the property.
And land that once sat inaccessible to the public is now permanently protected as part of Minnesota’s WMA system.
“This is what we all believe in,” Salvevold said. “Gleam WMA is a shining example of what we all hope to accomplish together.”
Media Contact
Jay Hathaway
Communications Coordinator, Great Lakes Atlantic Region
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing wetlands, grasslands and other waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has restored or protected more than 20 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science, DU’s projects benefit waterfowl, wildlife and people in all 50 states. Learn more at www.ducks.org.
