The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting bids for private landowners to graze cattle on parts of Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, beginning in May of 2020. The selected landowner will enter into a Cooperative Agricultural Agreement to conduct grazing on specified units of the Refuge. This conservation grazing opportunity has the potential to last through October of 2022. Cattle will be rotated at specific intervals through multiple different pastures within the Refuge. More than 2,750 of the Refuge’s 23,000 acres will be grazed in 2020. The objective of grazing on the Refuge is to manage its grassland and wetland habitats and improve conditions for migratory birds and other ground-nesting birds. Rotational grazing is used in conjunction with prescribed fire and other management activities to mimic the historical disturbances that the tallgrass prairie of western Minnesota evolved with.
Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge was established in 2004 as the 545th refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System, and is located 10 miles east of Crookston, MN in Polk County. The Glacial Ridge Project is the largest prairie-wetland restoration ever undertaken in the U.S., and began with the acquisition and restoration of more than 20,000 acres of land by The Nature Conservancy and numerous partners.
This grazing opportunity will be awarded through a closed-bid process. Bids are due February 14, 2020. Interested people can ask questions or request a copy of the bid package by contacting Gregg Knutsen at 218-687-2229 x16, 218-686-4329, or gregg_knutsen@fws.gov. The bid package is also posted on the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge webpage (www.fws.gov/refuge/glacial_ridge/). Additionally, bid packages can be picked up directly at the Glacial Ridge and Rydell National Wildlife Refuge Office, located approximately 4 miles southwest of Erskine, MN on County Road 210.
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