Driving around Minnesota in the winter, you'd be hard-pressed to find many patches of open water without a Trumpeter Swan or two hanging out nearby.
In the early 1980s, however, these charismatic birds had been completely extirpated from Minnesota. Their reintroduction was headed by Carrol Henderson and his growing crew of biologists. Henderson was the head of the then-brand-new Department of Natural Resources Nongame Wildlife Program, and that group of biologists included KAXE regular Pam Perry.
In an interview on the KAXE Morning Show, Henderson and Perry tell the story of the program's beginnings, including an otter's escapade in an elementary school and the transport of 40 Trumpeter Swans in an Air National Guard plane.
Thanks to their work, Minnesota now hosts the largest population of Trumpeter Swans in the lower 48 states: over 50,000 individuals! Otters have recovered much of their original range as well, thanks to a trapping program run by Henderson and the rest of the team.
Enjoy the conversation above, and you can find Carrol Henderson's new book, A National Legacy: Fifty Years of Nongame Wildlife Conservation in Minnesota, here.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
-
And: A new bill in the Minnesota Legislature would allow small school districts to shrink their school board size. -
In a Thursday, March 12, 2026, order, Judge Jeanine Brand said the attorney general’s office showed sufficient probable cause for the case against Michelle R. Skroch to move forward. -
The legislation was previously introduced in the Senate and aims to prevent fraud in the child care assistance program. The Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota condemned the bill's name.
