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Published November 15, 2008, 12:00 AM

Photo gallery: Wetlands, Pines and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary

Eldor and Stella Omdahl donated land for sanctuary


Eldor Omdahl of Warren, Minn., stands in the loft above a pond he dug at the Wetlands, Pines and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary.

  • Eldor Omdahl of Warren, Minn., stands in the loft above a pond he dug at the Wetlands, Pines and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary.
  • Eldor Omdahl (right), Warren, Minn., and his nephew, Roger “Buzzy” Omdahl (left), East Grand Forks, share a laugh while telling hunting stories Monday night at Buzzy’s deer camp southeast of Warren. Eldor, who’s 98, says he didn’t see a deer in the area until the late 1920s.
  • Eldor Omdahl and his dog, Mitzi, stand in front of a stand of pines he and his wife, Stella, planted in 1984 on the Wetlands, Pines and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary near Warren, Minn. Someday, their ashes will be scattered here, Omdahl says.
  • Stella and Eldor Omdahl stand by the woodstove in the living room of their home adjacent to the Wetlands, Pines and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary near Warren, Minn. Stella, who's 89, and Eldor, who's 98, donated the land for the sanctuary. They stay healthy, they say, by keeping active and going to dances.
  • Eldor Omdahl glasses the countryside with binoculars at dusk Monday looking for wildlife. Omdahl has a heated shack behind his house that he uses for deer hunting. But most of the time, the shelter is a place for Omdahl to observe wildlife.
  • From the comfort of a heated shack atop a hill, Eldor Omdahl of Warren, Minn., looks over the wildlife habitat he helped create. A retired farmer and lifelong conservationist, Omdahl, 98, and his wife, Stella, donated the land for the Wetlands, Pines and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary.
  • Hunting stories dominated the conversation when Eldor Omdahl visited the deer camp of his nephew, Roger "Buzzy" Omdahl, after supper on the third day of Minnesota's 2008 deer season. Pictured from left are Buzzy Omdahl, East Grand Forks; John Harrison, Everett, Wash.; Pete Walton (seated), Everett Wash.; Jerry Anfinson (standing), Naples Fla.; Eldor Omdahl, Warren; Richard Minton, Biddeford, Maine; and Danny Omdahl, Warren.