What flows together, grows together

"There’s ebbs and flows in the landscape; up and down. There’s really no pattern to it.” That was how Kyle Frommelt, a natural resources technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, described the DNR’s new Klingman Etringer Wildlife Management Area. 

His description invokes a gentle image. Woodland and grassland grow across steady dips and rises. The woodland — thick canopies of basswood, rough-barked sugar maples, black walnut bearing its fruits — rolls with the land. So does the grassland’s native grasses and forbs and length of Hewett Creek running along the property’s western edge. 

For wildlife and hunters alike, the 157-acre property is alive with the pulse of nature. One habitat flows into the next. Wildlife moves across the property wherever their needs take them. 

The diverse, native resources have made game in the area plentiful. Gene Etringer hunted this land, which used to be part of a larger parcel, for years with family and friends. When it came up for sale in 1990, Gene formed a partnership with his father and six brothers to purchase part of the hunting land. Gene can recall many family hunting trips that spanned generations, but it wasn’t only time spent with blood relatives that made the land special. 

Lyle Klingman (pictured top right) sadly passed away in 2020. But, before that, he hunted with Gene and Gene’s family for 45 years. To call Lyle a friend might be an understatement. While talking about trips to the now-named Klingman Etringer Wildlife Management Area, Gene’s voice brightens, eager to share stories of the friend who dedicated himself to bringing friends together and providing hunting education. 

“Sometimes he’d bring a kid with him to learn. We all had fun. He was really good for the family,” says Gene. “He gave us a lot of smiles.” 

Lyle, Gene and the rest of the Etringers were hunting buddies, but hunting with Lyle wasn’t an activity that ended when everyone loaded up their trucks; it was a celebration that lasted all night. 

“Lyle and his wife, Karon, were so good to us. We’d all eat dinner after. There’d be about 20 of us there.” Gene describes big pots of chicken noodle soup and reminisces about his sons learning to play pinochle. 

Zach Etringer, Gene’s son, remembers how dedicated Lyle and Karon were to keeping their hunting community close. “Their basement was set up almost like a second home, complete with a kitchen. It wasn’t by accident — it was designed so all of the Etringer boys and their families would have a place to gather, to stay, and to belong. It was never just a visit. It was home.” 

Throughout his life, Gene had permission to hunt on a few properties, but he still struggled to find hunting space. Over time, he felt it became harder and harder to get permission to hunt on private land. When the Etringer brothers decided to sell, Gene felt the property needed to be managed by the DNR. 

As an advocate of public hunting land, Gene and his brothers decided to donate a portion of the land’s value to the DNR. 

“It was pretty monumental to secure the property,” says Kyle Frommelt. A diverse, natural landscape with established game populations offered nearly everything one could ask for in a public hunting property. 

However, even with the family’s generosity, gathering the funds and resources to procure the property became challenging. That’s when Lyle, even after his passing, began to help bring people together again. 

When the Clayton County Pheasants Forever Chapter lent their support, Jim Jansen, who had worked on procuring the property before he retired from the DNR, credited the partnership to Lyle’s active involvement with the local chapter. Eventually the Pheasants Forever partnership blossomed into a network of ten supporting Pheasants Forever chapters. 

“It’s a wonderful property that enhances everything Pheasants Forever stands for,” Daryl Landsgard, treasurer for the Clayton County Pheasants Forever Chapter, explains. 

Recognizing the importance of the natural and cultural legacy the Etringers and Lyle had built, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation became a partner in the project by initially purchasing the land to allow time for grants and other funding to be identified. 

“The Klingman Etringer Wildlife Management Area is a good example of how protected natural areas contribute to both conservation and quality of life in Northeast Iowa,” says Mallory Hanson, INHF board member based in West Union. “Sites like this support a mix of habitat types, provide opportunities for outdoor recreation and help ensure that working landscapes and natural resources continue to coexist for future generations.” 

Much of Hanson’s praise for the WMA echoes Gene’s earlier thoughts about Lyle’s life and legacy. Support natural landscapes, and they will support human connections with nature present and future. 

Like the Klingmans and the Etringers, like the habitats on the Klingman Etringer Wildlife Management Area, like the partners supporting the WMA, these goals flow together and grow.