Burr Oak Lake Waterfowl Production Area Adds 197 Acres Near Willmar

Minnesota just added another piece of ground where ducks, pheasants, deer, pollinators and regular hunters all win.

The Bruce Behm Tract adds 197 acres to the Burr Oak Lake Waterfowl Production Area a few miles northeast of Willmar in Kandiyohi County. The new parcel ties into an existing 330-acre WPA and the 125-acre Kandi Wildlife Management Area, with another 150-acre wildlife easement nearby. That is how habitat work starts to matter: not as one isolated patch, but as connected ground.

The tract had already been in the Conservation Reserve Program and includes established native grasses, forbs and multiple restored wetlands. It will be conveyed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a waterfowl production area and opened for public use.

There is also a good hunting-culture story behind it. Bruce Behm led the Northwest Suburban Pheasants Forever chapter for years and put real effort into getting young people outdoors. After his death, chapter volunteers backed this project with a $100,000 donation in his name. Primary funding also came through Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund and the North American Wetland Conservation Act.

That is conservation with dirt under its fingernails. Buy habitat, restore wetlands, connect public acres and make sure the next kid has a place to chase birds instead of just hearing old stories about where the hunting used to be.