MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Minnesota Seeks Public Input on Wildlife and Aquatic Lands as DNR Develops Long-Term Management Framework

SAINT PAUL, MN (October 20, 2026). The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is inviting public input on long-term management priorities for wildlife and aquatic management areas, opening an early planning process that will influence habitat conservation and recreation across the state.

Comments are being accepted through 11:59 p.m. November 18. The department announced the opportunity October 19.

The project concerns a system containing approximately 1,500 wildlife management areas and 700 aquatic management areas. Seven major wildlife units, including Carlos Avery, recently received updated management plans; this effort focuses on the remainder of the system.

The current stage asks residents to identify priorities and concerns before landscape plans are drafted. Topics include habitat management, recreational opportunities and conservation needs.

That makes the comment period an opportunity to influence the direction of the work while goals are still being developed. The department says draft landscape plans will later return for additional public review.

The planning framework has three phases. The first establishes an overarching statewide system plan. The second develops plans for Minnesota’s four ecological regions. The third creates templates for management plans covering individual units or groups of units.

The four regions are prairie parkland, eastern broadleaf forest, Laurentian mixed forest and tallgrass aspen parklands. Residents may comment on as many regions as they wish.

According to the project page, the department has a working draft of the statewide framework and is beginning the regional planning processes.

For hunters, anglers, wildlife watchers and other public-land users in the Twin Cities and North Metro, the process offers a way to describe what they value about the broader management-area system and what needs attention.

The distinction between regional goals and individual site decisions is important. These plans will establish direction that can guide later management actions, while subsequent planning will address individual units or operational groups.

Residents can review background information and submit responses through the questionnaire linked on the DNR’s landscape planning page.

Comments may also be mailed to Policy and Planning Program, Fish and Wildlife Division, 500 Lafayette Road, Saint Paul, MN 55155. The department lists November 18 as the submission deadline.

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