Minnesota DNR plans spring webinars

Minnesota’s wildlife management areas — there are more than 1,500 public WMAs in the state — are celebrating 75 years this year. Individuals can learn more about their history in a webinar recorded on March 25 and archived on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website. It’s one webinar of many on outdoor topics the DNR produces every quarter.

The department has been hosting webinars for several years now, and they continue to remain popular, according to Benjamin Kohn, DNR volunteer mentor program coordinator.

“We started these right after COVID as a way to share information and encourage people to get outdoors, to share with them some of the work that DNR is doing and some of the great opportunities we have in Minnesota,” he told the Grand Forks Herald. “It’s gone really well.”

After starting them during the coronavirus pandemic, it slowly grew from there due to people’s interest. “We did an 11-part series on deer hunting — we still use that for our Learn to Hunt programs — and it just kind of built off of that,” he said.

Most of the presenters are from the DNR but sometimes an expert from another organization is invited to present on a topic, such as one in May about yellow bass by a DNR staffer and Jon Lore, an avid yellow bass angler. The two will discuss the fish’s population status, biology, fishing challenges and angling opportunities in the state.

Some of the topics are repeated every year, such as webinars about the state’s fishing or hunting openers, but there also are a mix of issues that have not been covered or that take a new approach to a previously presented topic.

“We typically do one around turkey season about turkeys, we always do one around deer season highlighting regulations for deer and CWD (chronic wasting disease),” Kohn said. “There are some standard ones we always throw in to get the word out to a large number of people.”

The webinars have received a lot of participation with many thousands of views every year.

“There’s a good chunk of people who turn in and watch them,” Kohn said, but noting if someone cannot join during the live session — although that is preferred since participants can ask questions — the webinars are recorded and saved in an archive on the DNR website. People can then review what sessions they missed or are most interested in watching.

Topics cover a gamut of outdoor activities and topics under the generic subheads of fishing, hunting, nature, outdoors, etc. One of the more popular videos is one about micro-fishing, a sport that started in Japan and in recent years came to the United States.

“Microfishing is the practice of catching the smallest fish,” Kohn said. “There’s a more active and larger niche audience in Minnesota that loves to microfish. We’ve had a lot of views on that one.”

Most of the videos are roughly an hour, with some variations. Typically, the speaker will present for 30 minutes or so, followed by a question-and-answer period. Length of the Q&A, of course, depends on audience participation.

All of the webinars are captioned and free to watch, but pre-registration is required to participate in the live events. Registration is not required to view recordings. Kohn said the webinars and archive are a bit unique for a natural resources department.

“Two or three years ago, we went to a Fish and Wildlife conference in South Dakota where they did a presentation on how virtual learning is adding to what DNRs can offer,” he said. “As far as I know, we’re the only agency in the country that is still doing and maintaining some of these videos.”

Watch a webinar

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has several upcoming webinars planned on outdoor topics in the state. Participants can pre-register at dnr.state.mn.us/fishwildlife/outreach/index.html , where visitors can also find the archived videos.

April 8: Turkeys – Greg Henderson, wildlife specialist and avid hunter, will talk about turkey populations across the state, different hunting opportunities and some tips for bagging a gobbler.

April 22: Native fish – Shannon Fisher, fisheries populations and regulations manager, will discuss native species, their importance to Minnesota and related regulation and legislative updates.

May 6: Walleye – DNR fisheries staff will discuss the walleye forecast for this year, a behind-the-scenes look at how the department manages the species and some tips for catching one.

May 20: Yellow bass – Jon Lore, an avid yellow bass angler, will discuss the species biology, population’s status, fishing challenges and angling opportunities in the state.