NEW ULM — The State of Minnesota acquired 180.86 acres of non-crop land in Section 33 of Mulligan Township Tuesday.

Brown County Commissioners unanimously approved the State of Minnesota to include the land in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Management Area (WMA) came on a motion by Commissioner Scott Windschitl, seconded by Dave Borchert.

“It’s good to get some land to turn back to pheasant hunting habitat. The PILT payment is almost three times what current taxes are. I’ll move it. It’s a win-win,” said Commissioner Scott Windschitl.

DNR Area Wildlife Manager Jeff Zajac of Redwood Falls said the Wood Lake State Land Acquisition located about 3 miles east of Comfrey and 164.6 acres of it is already enrolled in the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) permanent conservation easement program that precludes cropping and other development in perpetuity.

WMAs are open to the public for hunting, trapping, wildlife watching, photography, hiking and other wildlife related recreation.

Zajac said WMAs in the general area are heavily used by the public, particularly for pheasant hunting and the acquisition would provide much needed additional opportunities.

He said the rest of the acquisition is wetland surrounding the existing WMA and subject to flooding, so the acquisition will not remove any current or potential future cropland from production.

“Taxes for 2024 were a total of $908 that included the acquisition and existing farmsite and buildings. Our Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) for the property will be $2,848.50 that will remain the same for five years. After that, it’s up to the assessor to reassign taxes,” Zajac said.

PILT is paid directly to the county. Distribution between county, local school, and township budgets is a county responsibility.

“The DNR won’t own the farm site and buildings. They will still provide county tax revenue even after the acquisition. Property owner Gary Rathman is very much on board with this,” he said.

Zajac said the acquisition won’t make flooding around the land worse and may make it marginally better.

“This adds public access to the property. I suspect it’ll mostly be used for pheasant hunting. It’s already grass and wetland and that’s what it’s gonna stay,” he said.