Manitoba’s Largest Conservation Land Purchase Protects 8,167 Acres

Ducks Unlimited Canada has completed what it says is the largest conservation land purchase in Manitoba’s history, acquiring the 8,167-acre East Meadows Ranch on Lake Manitoba’s Marshy Point.

The property, covering 3,108 hectares of coastal marsh, wetlands and grasslands, will now be known as the Kennedy Field Station at East Meadows. The purchase was valued at about $9 million and supported by public and private donors, including Cox Enterprises, local philanthropists and the Government of Canada’s Natural Heritage Conservation Program.

Located about 80 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, the site includes more than 800 acres of DUC’s historic Marshy Point wetland project. It also falls within a globally recognized Important Bird Area, where as many as 43 breeding duck pairs per square mile have been recorded.

The landscape supports western grebes, trumpeter swans, pelicans, herons, bobolinks and several other species.

 

“This property is a living legacy where generations of people and wildlife have been connected through the land,” said Pat O’Connor, chair of DUC’s board of directors.

Cox Enterprises helped fund the purchase through part of a $100 million gift announced in 2024 to Wetlands America Trust. The property’s new name recognizes Jim Kennedy, chairman emeritus of Cox Enterprises and founding president of the trust.

The land also carries a long conservation history. Once operated as a muskrat ranch, it later became closely associated with the reintroduction of the Giant Canada Goose, which had once been thought extinct.

For more than 50 years, researchers have also used the area to study waterfowl, including gadwalls, mallards and shovellers. DUC says that scientific work will continue under its stewardship.

Kennedy Field Station at East Meadows