Volunteer Coordinator: Recruit and train volunteers; coordinate volunteer activities.
District Ranger: Check Waterfowl Production Areas for boundary sign needs, vehicle and ag trespass, deer stands, and rock dumping. Reports on wildlife and habitat observations.
Biological Assistant: Conducts wildlife and vegetative surveys, reports and enters data.
Wildflower Specialist: Locate, collect, and plant hard-to-find wildflowers.
Photographer: Photograph special events, habitat conditions, wildlife, public use,etc.
Hunting Survey Specialist: Conduct hunter use surveys on Waterfowl Production Areas.
Wetland Restoration Technician: Assist District staff survey and seed wetland restoration sites on private land and Waterfowl Production Areas.
Trail Construction Specialist: Assist with interpretive trail and boardwalk construction.
Maintenance Assistant: Help keep equipment, buildings, and grounds maintained.
Office Assistant/Receptionist: Greet visitors, answer phone, word processing, and filing.
GPS/GIS Technician: GIS digitizing, GPS data collecting, and map making.
Beautification Specialist: Maintain office flower beds, assist with landscaping projects.
Grant Writer: Write grants and contact funding funding sources for special project cost-share funding.
Public Relations Specialist: Write news releases, present programs, lead tours to promote natural resources conservation, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Detroit Lakes WMD.

Accommodations: Housing is available in a bunkhouse with room for 10. The bunkhouse is located at the Wetland District Headquarters and has bunk beds, cooking facilities, hot showers, and electricity. Reservations are required to and volunteers must commit to at least 32 hours per week for a minimum of one month to stay in the bunkhouse.

Location: Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District, the northern most Wetland District in the Minnesota Waterfowl and Wetland Management Complex, includes the counties of Becker, Clay, Mahnomen, Norman, and Polk. The District headquarters office is located near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. The District is bordered on the west by the flat Red River Valley Flood plain and by the rolling hardwood forest/lake region in the east. The primary economic base of the area is agriculture, with a strong tourism industry that is centered on area lakes.

This portion of Minnesota is part of a 300,000 square mile area that covers the portions of the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa and central Canada known as the 'prairie Pothole Region'. This region has been so named because of the many small prairie wetland basins that were carved out of the landscape by the retreating glaciers about 12,000 years ago. On the average, there are 83 prairie wetlands per square mile throughout the Prairie Pothole Region; which is why this area produces up to 70% of the nations waterfowl and his home to more than 300 other migratory bird species, in addition to numerous species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects.

The district is located in the transition zone between the tall grass prairie and the big woods habitats. Habitat varies from native tall grass prairie to crop land to forest, with thousands of wetlands and hundreds of lakes scattered throughout. The result is an area that is rich in plant and animal diversity.

The 10-member Wetland District staff currently manages 40,089 acres of wetland and upland habitat on 165 Waterfowl Production Areas that are scattered throughout the five-county District. In addition, the District administers more than 11,500 wetland acres through Easements Waterfowl Management Rights, 20 acres of private grassland habitat that are protected by an Easement for Wildlife Habitat Production, and Conservation Easements on 1,340 acres of wetland and upland habitat that were formerly Farmers Home Administration inventory property. The District also has management responsibilities for the Rydell National Wildlife Refuge, a recently established, 2,120 acre National Wildlife Refuge that is located in Polk County near the communities of Mentor and Erskine. All of these lands fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wildlife Refuge System.

To get to the Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District Office from Highway 34, go 1.5 miles north on Richwood Road to Tower Road then .25 mile west. From Highway 59 north, take Township Road 131 to Tower Road then .5 mile east. Look for signs on Highway 59 and Richwood Road

Mailing Address: Detroit Lakes WMD, 26624 North Tower Road, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501-7959

Contact Person: Les Peterson

Phone: 218/847-4431

FAX: 218/847-4156

E-mail: leslie_n_peterson@mail.fws.gov