New Ulm native

manages DNR research

station in Madelia

Grund is Farmland

Deer Leader

MADELIA -- A New Ulm native who started his professional career path as a student intern at the Madelia Farmland Wildlife and Populations Research Station is back where he began.

Marrett Grund, a 1991 New Ulm High graduate, worked in Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania before becoming the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Farmland Deer Project Leader.

He will be responsible for many research and management activities in the farmland zone that includes all or parts of 74 counties and nearly 49,000 square miles.

He will do population surveys, research, manage deer populations and habitats, evaluate management practices and programs and provide technical help to other DNR staff and the public.

"That's no small task, considering the strong feelings Minnesotans have about deer and the economic impacts of deer hunting," said Dick Kimmel, Ground Leader at the research facility. "Marrett's education and professional experience are an ideal fit for the position."

Grund said internal and external communication will be a key component of his approach.

"I think it's important to understand the needs and listen to the opinions of wildlife managers," Grund said. "I intend to get out as often as I can to meet with the managers and develop strong working relationships with them."

An avid bow hunter, Grund understands the importance of connecting with the state's deer hunters.

Grund said urban deer management and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) are two issues that need to stay on the front burner.

He helped wildlife research biologists in collecting, managing and analyzing data for a variety of wildlife projects. They included deer-landowner conflicts in rural and urban settings from 1992-1998 at the DNR Madelia station.

Grund worked in various capacities for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at Southern Illinois University's Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory from 1998-2001.

He was a wildlife research biologist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, responsible for deer research in western Pennsylvania in 2001.

Last October, he was named Deer Research Supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. He was responsible for all research and management activities on white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania. He developed a "forward-thinking, science-based deer management program."

He earned a B.S. degree in ecology from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 1995, a master's degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences from the University of Missouri in 1998, and a doctorate in zoology from Southern Illinois University in 2001.

Grund and his wife Melanie live in Mankato. They have two daughters, 3 1/2-year-old Cameron and 9-month-old Kendall. Grund is the son of Dale and Kay Grund of New Ulm.