Today we’d like to introduce you to Marty Thorne.
Hi Marty, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I graduated from the University of Minnesota – Crookston Campus in December of 2014 with a B.S. degree in Natural Resources. Life and career decision took me out of the Natural Resources professions until 2025. During my time in other career fields I heard many people complaining about a lack of their favorite animal species or too many animal of an undesirable species for them. The story was always the same, they would blame different groups of people for why they didn’t have the animals they wanted. They also would not do anything to help improve their own situation. The reality was, and still is, that the biggest issue with not having the quality or quantity of desirable wildlife is due to habitat conditions. Using my Natural Resources background, I began helping friends to improve their habitat quality, and thus, improved their wildlife. This continued until in late 2024when my wife asked me why don’t I just start my own business to help anyone with their habitat. I had thought about this many times, but I realized I did not have a good reason for not starting a business focused on this. I knew this concept was a common business idea in many parts of the United States, but it was not common in Minnesota, especially the northern part of the state that I live in. I then opened up Wildlife Habitat Consultants in January of 2025, with the focus being to provide affordable, quality wildlife habitat services that any land owner could afford to hire and improve their own habitat in a way that would meet their own specific goals. It started with consultations and written management plans. We have since added additional services such as nuisance animal trapping and blood tracking K9 services. We also sell products such as bird houses and nesting boxes, as well as bat houses.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Since this business concept has not been widely expressed in this part of the country, one of the biggest hurdles I have faced is simply letting people know my services are available and affordable. Advertising is expensive, especially for a new business. I founded and funded the business on my own without financing anything. Since my capital is limited, I had to be very intentional about how I advertise. It is still a work in progress, but word is definitely getting out to people now!
Another hurdle I face is getting people to take that leap into making changes on their own. It is definitely easier to sit back and blame other people and wait for them to fix the problem for you rather than to fix things on your own. However, with that mentality, you will wait forever and still not have the results you want. People are surprised by how easy it can be for them to fix things themselves after some coaching and a step-by-step customized plan if they just put in a little bit of work every year. It is also much cheaper than people expect.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Wildlife Habitat Consultants?
Wildlife Habitat Consultants was founded with the intent of helping every day landowners to manage the habitat on their own properties in order to meet their own specific goals. Too often, people want to blame government agencies and different special interest groups for why the wildlife on their properties doesn’t flourish they way they want it to. While it can be true that different laws and regulations can have an impact on a wide range of wildlife species, it does not mean that there is nothing that can be done about it. The biggest factor in all wildlife populations is habitat. Different habitats support different wildlife. If you manipulate your habitat, you can help manipulate which animals use that habitat and how many of those animals the habitat can support. At Wildlife Habitat Consultants, we educate landowners on how their current habitat is affecting their wildlife, how they can manipulate their habitat to meet their wildlife objectives, and then write out step-by-step plans on how they can do those habitat improvements on their own. The idea behind this is that by educating the landowner on how to improve their own habitat, it becomes affordable for almost any landowner to begin making those changes themselves. We also focus on a lot of natural habitat improvements rather than implementing things that are not found in their natural habitats. This is more cost effective and also better overall for the wildlife. We pride ourselves on being an affordable option for anyone wishing to improve their lands. We also cater to the specific goals and desires of the landowners, whether it be to improve hunting lands, provide habitat for struggling pollinators, or anything in between! We can make a plan with any landowner to help them meet their needs!
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Anyone in need of habitat advice is always welcome to call, email, or visit our website! I also work with some of our local State wildlife biologists when we have projects that intersect or butt up together. I am happy to be a liaison between landowners and their local wildlife biologist. Due to the relationships I have created in both the public and private sectors of land ownership, I also understand different arguments for different types of land management styles. This can be very important when law makers, politicians, or natural resource agencies are deciding on new laws, regulations, and management tactics. I try to reach out to these groups when I know of different changes being discussed, but I am also happy to receive calls and emails from them! Lastly, just because I mainly work with private landowners does not mean I cannot work with non-profit organizations, large corporations, or directly with government agencies. Anyone who falls into these other categories is encouraged to reach out to us as well! We would love to assist in helping manage lands that are open for public use or to assist with ensuring that different land uses will not have a negative effect on the wildlife also using those lands. I would also be interested in collaborating with logging companies who are willing to take on small projects with targeted timber harvests based on the management plans and objectives set forth by my team and the landowners.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wildlifehabitatconsultants.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildlifeHabitatConsultants/
