NEW ULM — Brown County commissioners provided formal certification of a conservation easement project by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

The commissioner’s certification was part of a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requirement.

“The Fish and Wildlife Services has an agreement with the Minnesota DNR that any time we use migratory bird funding for conservation easement or habitat easement, we are required to meet with the county,” Eric Earhart, realty specialist with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said.

This provides the county with an opportunity to provide feedback on the easement acquisition.

The easement is located in south of Sleepy Eye in the Mulligan Township and protects 73 acres of grasslands and wetlands. The easement is on land owned by Karl Vachuska of Madison, Wisconsin.

Earhart said the purpose of the easement is to protect the habitat of wetland bird species. He stressed the easement does not change cropland or other agriculture uses on the surrounding properties.

Earhart said many conservation easements are “set aside” programs where the land cannot be touched after the easement is placed. This easement has more flexibility, allowing haying and grazing of the land. In addition, this easement is on private land. It would not be open to the public. Access would still be controlled by the landowner.

Earhart said hunting would not be restricted from this easement, but since it is private land, permission would be needed by the landowner. The landowner would still be responsible for weed control on the property.

Wetland District Manager Jon Beyer said that as part of this easement project, the state would remove some invasive trees from the property.

There are no known tile lines on the property, but Beyer said if tiling were found, it would be removed or breaks put into the tile.

“We would try to restore the wetland through tile-breaks, ditch fills, possibly sediment removal from within the wetland basin to restore water on the land,” Beyer said. “It’s pretty straightforward, this property is already in grass and is well established.”

Earhart said the easement is currently funded through the migratory bird hunting and conservation stamp act and this easement was perpetual. All future property owners would need to follow easement requirements.

Commissioner Scott Windschitl was concerned with possible tax forfeiture. He said since this easement is perpetual, it was possible a future landowner could fail to pay taxes. Windschitl asked if, in this scenario, the property and easement would become the county’s responsibility.

Brown County Auditor Kelly Hotovec said that when a parcel comes to the county on tax forfeiture, one of the first actions is to contact DNR if there are wetlands on it. The DNR has 30 to 60 days to respond on whether they want to take the property. She said this could give the county an option for another government agency to take over the property.

The commissioners unanimously approved the certification of the easement. Earhart said next, the easement will go before the Minnesota Land Exchange Board. Any exchange of public land must be approved by this board. Earhart said in this case, there is no exchange; it will remain in private ownership but still go before the state board for approval.