The Welle Family - 2025
Steve Welle Recognized as the 2025 Wildlife Habitat Steward for Stearns County and Minnesota
The Stearns Conservation District is pleased to recognize Steve Welle as the 2025 Stearns County Wildlife Habitat Steward. Every year the Stearns Conservation District recognizes a landowner, business, or organization for their accomplishments related to sustaining wildlife habitat on their property. The Welle’s were also selected as this year’s recipient of the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD)/Pheasants Forever Wildlife Habitat Steward Award. This award recognizes landowners for their outstanding accomplishments with implementing wildlife habitat practices. Creating and maintaining wildlife habitat comes with many benefits including increased soil and water quality, recreational opportunities, aesthetics on the land, and many others.
Steve Welle and his family are passionate stewards of wildlife and natural habitat. Together they have successfully enrolled approximately 32.67 acres of their land into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) under the Riparian Buffer initiative. This conservation practice is designed to enhance water quality and ecosystem health by establishing vegetative buffers along waterways. Steve Welle was motivated to enroll parts of his property into CRP because he knew he would see the wildlife benefits. “It is a win/win in my eyes when you get to see the wildlife benefits but also get a great rental rate. It was a great opportunity for me to convert land that was no longer highly productive and turn it into something better,” says Welle.
Through their active participation with CRP, the Welles have demonstrated exceptional commitment to enhancing and preserving high-quality habitat on their property. To support wildlife during the critical winter months, they annually cultivate approximately 1.8 acres of food plots, strategically rotating crops such as corn, soybeans, brassicas, and other nutrient-rich varieties. This thoughtful approach ensures a consistent and diverse food source for local wildlife. In addition to their food plot efforts, the Welle family has restored 34.2 acres of native prairie, significantly contributing to biodiversity, pollinator health, and long-term ecological resilience.
The Welles have also implemented approximately 3.8 acres of wetland restorations through CRP. These restorations enhance water quality, provide critical habitat for wildlife, and contribute to broader watershed health by storing additional water on the land before releasing downstream. Complementing these efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has also completed a separate 3.1-acre wetland restoration on the property, further reinforcing the family's commitment to ecological stewardship.
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Drone Imagery of the Welle Family Land
The Welle family uses conservation farming practices on their land as well. They have worked to implement no till practices and strive to prevent erosion by leaving crop residue on their fields. The Welles also completed a project that worked to exclude cattle from the creek through their property which greatly improves water quality.
John Maile, Administrator with the Stearns Conservation District says, “I was impressed by Steve Welle because he tries to utilize CRP everywhere that it is appropriate on his land and he continues to enroll more. The proximity of Steve’s land to the Sauk River is important because the soil there is vulnerable and isn’t necessarily highly productive. I was impressed to hear Steve say that CRP is the most practical use for that land.”
Stearns Conservation District Board Chair, Justine Meyer, also says, “I was blown away by the map of Steve’s land put into numerous conservation programs, a bit like patchwork across the landscape for different areas as he retires his dairy farm. Steve Welle and his family have ongoing dedication to caring for the land and wildlife and are very deserving of this recognition.”
In the future, the Welles want to continue to expand their impact on conservation by enrolling additional upland farmland into native prairie restoration. They also have hopes of converting land that is dominated by cattails to a pond which will provide additional habitat for wildlife.
Steve Welle shared advice to those looking at starting conservation projects on their land, “Get into contact with the Stearns Conservation District and see what programs and funding are available. If it fits what you want to do with your land, then give it a try. My experience working with the Stearns Conservation District has been very positive. Specifically, Jason Selvog (SCD Wildlife Habitat Specialist) has been really great to work with and has helped me a lot during these projects. His hard work has had a very positive impact on my land and I would like to acknowledge him for that. There is no doubt that I see more wildlife on my land now than I did before I started doing conservation projects.”
Steve Welle says he feels it is important to protect our natural resources because, “Somebody’s got to, I have an opportunity to protect the land that maybe my neighbor doesn’t. My land fits the picture.” Aside from conservation work, the Welle family enjoys hunting, fishing, watching baseball, and enjoying the wildlife on their land.
Steve Welle and his family were presented with their award at the Minnesota Association of Water and Soil Conservation Districts (MASWCD) Convention that was held December 1-3.
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Drone Imagery of the Welle Family Land
