Preserving and Educating

Love of the land, wildlife and a vision of what was there before his grandparents homesteaded his 160-acre family farm motivated David Jacobson of Sauk Centre, Minnesota to return the land to its natural state of wetlands, woodlands, and prairie. When asked why he would take active farmland out of production, Jacobson simply responds he likes to “talk to the ducks.”

Jacobson, a former Sauk Centre teacher and employee of the Independent Bankers Association, began his immense restoration project in 1992. He has since restored 32 temporary, seasonal, and semi-permanent prairie pot-hole type wetlands. He has also re-established 40 acres of native grassland and restored four acres to a variety of hardwood trees. Part of Jacobson’s philosophy in preserving the land is educating young people about the environment.

Land Ethics

He established an eco-life workshop that brings students to the land three times a year and hosted several research projects on his land by government agencies and universities. One day, he hopes to have an environmental interpretive center on the land. However, it is not just the youth Jacobson seeks to educate.

“Part of this whole venture is education, not just for these students but for other landowners,” explains Jacobson. “I want it to be available for anyone who wants to learn about land ethics. I want it to be so landowners can come out and say, ‘I can do this with part of my land!'”

Jacobson intends this land to remain in its natural state forever. In cooperation with the Minnesota Land Trust, he is placing an easement on his entire property that assures permanent protection of the restored habitats and ensures its use as an educational facility.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded Jacobson the National Wetlands Conservation Award in 1997. He was selected as the Region Individual Winner within the Great Lakes Region, which encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The award is presented annually to individuals, groups, and corporations that contribute to the:

* restoration,
* enhancement and
* protection of wetlands.

Rebirth of a Natural Ecosystem

Jacobson credits Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Jack Arnold as the driving force behind the conservation effort. Arnold recognizes Jacobson as “an innovator who has pushed the agency to try new things.” Arnold praises the restoration, saying the land was previously cropland and filled wetlands, and now “critters are flying around, using the area.” He adds that restoring the wetland is a real plus for the environment because the area drains directly into the Sauk River. The wetlands hold runoff, forestalling erosion and preventing pollutants from draining into the river.

Jacobson recalls how his father and siblings drained the farm’s wetlands with dynamite in the 1950’s thinking that would create productive cropland. “We looked at it as a real service to the nation,” recalls Jacobson. U.S. farmers were feeding the world. There was nothing then about conservation.” After that time, Jacobson saw little wildlife, such as muskrats, on the property. That is why the siting of the first muskrat house was so symbolic of the rebirth of the natural ecosystem. “All the major wetlands have muskrats. We have had nesting songbirds, geese, ducks, and there are many frogs and snakes. All the wetland plants and animals have come by themselves,” says Jacobson

“Once the water conditions are reestablished, Mother Nature really takes over,” states Jacobson. Jacobson is currently trying to recreate the tall-grass and short-grass prairie with native grasses, such as blue stem and Indian grass that originally covered the land. He is also nurturing seedlings from indigenous red oak, burr oak and green ash to reforest part of the land.

Remembering Past Hardships

This is quite a contrast to the pastureland Jacobson’s grandparents had on this land and the cropland of his parents. When he looks at the hardships his homesteading grandparents faced as they “eeked a living” from the land and then his parents as they raised a few cows in the height of the Depression, he wonders, “how did they survive?” This same land that is flourishing in less than a decade of preservation, had maws planted with alfalfa and row crops for most of the century.

Dave has worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Wildlife (which provides free restorative services if the restored habitat is protected more than ten years), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Waterfowl Association, Delta Waterfowl Association, Pheasants Forever, Natural Resources Conservation Service, First State Bank of Sauk Centre, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, St. Cloud State University, St. John’s University, Sauk Centre High School, Staples-Motely High School, and Little Falls High School.

Working Together

Bill Hartwig, the regional Fish and Wildlife Service director, says Jacobson’s property shows what can happen when government and non-government entities work together. However, it was Jacobson’s commitment to the environment and young people that won him the National Wetlands Conservation Award, Hartwig states. “Dave’s students know what wetlands and grasslands meant to the environment, they are probably in the top one percent of people in this nation who understand the benefits of wetlands,” Hartwig notes. He adds, “Dave’s vision is to restore the farm and to start something new for the next generation.”

Reflecting on his land and restoration project, Jacobson remembers, “the idea started germinating in my mind in 1990. It was a time when I was considering my own mortality and the future of my farm. I thought: ‘Hey, I don’t have a family. It would be nice to leave something behind for posterity.’…. I love it here. I always have. I think I’m fortunate to be able to live in a place like this. Through this project, I hope others can someday enjoy it as much as I have. I want people to be able to walk through it and be a part of it.”