Pheasants Forever

Thanks to you it was another record year for upland conservation! The Habitat Organization delivered 2.4 million acres of habitat improvements across the pheasant, quail, and prairie grouse ranges. As the year comes to a close, now is the time to maximize your 2024 impact on the uplands with a year-end gift. If you have already made your year-end gift this giving season, thank you! See the full 2024 Impact Report and find ways to maximize your 2024 impact https://lnkd.in/gqjiHNJk

ON THE WING Podcast Ep. 297: Late Season Hunting Tips for Pheasants and Bobwhite Quail Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever Journal Editor Tom “Carp” Carpenter and Quail Forever Journal Editor Ryan Sparks for a back-and-forth conversation about late season bird hunting. Carp breaks down his six tips for late season roosters as they appear in his article “PhD Roosters” from the Winter edition of the PF Journal, while Sparks adds color to his six tips for late season bobwhite quail hunting from his article, “In the Thick of It.”  Listen at https://lnkd.in/g5nqb_h4

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Federal Farm Bill extended as Congress avoids government shutdown Congress passed legislation in the early hours of the morning to fund the government through March 14, 2025, and extend the 2018 Farm Bill through September 30, 2025. The agreement avoids a government shutdown over the holidays and ensures that farm bill programs like the Conservation Reserve Program will be authorized to provide habitat enrollments throughout the next year, while also providing much needed economic assistance and disaster relief to agricultural producers.  Unfortunately, the legislation does not incorporate $14.5 billion in conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act into the conservation title of the farm bill, a move that enjoys bipartisan support and would provide highly successful and oversubscribed voluntary conservation programs with long-term, historic funding. Congress also failed to provide stopgap funding for the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, leaving the only federal program supporting public access on private lands without funding for 2025. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gRKMpYrz

Congress Sends Home Holiday Gifts for Conservation By: Ariel Alberti Wiegard, vice president of government affairs This week, Congress passed several wildlife habitat conservation and outdoor recreation bills important to upland birds and upland hunters. The America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Reauthorization Act, Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experience (EXPLORE) Act and the Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver (WILD) Act have all been passed on to President Biden to be signed into law. What do these bills mean for conservation? Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/gC3XgnhY

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Sign Memorandum of Understanding with the USFWS Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever (QF) are proud to announce a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The MOU solidifies decades of partnership collaboration to mutually conserve quality wildlife habitat through 2034 via habitat management of grasslands and uplands, conservation promotion, workforce development, and education and outreach. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been a key partner of the Habitat Organization, and we’re very excited to continue that relationship with this MOU,” said Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s President and CEO Marilyn Vetter. “High quality habitat cannot happen without meaningful partnerships. Our organizations have a proven track record for conservation collaboration at the highest levels – we’re thrilled to take it another step forward in the decade to come.” As part of the MOU, a work plan will be developed between both organizations to promote fish and wildlife management practices on public, Tribal and private lands. These habitat improvements may be implemented on Waterfowl Production Areas and National Wildlife Refuges or on private lands through the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and Farm Bill conservation programs. Both PF & QF and USFWS will also collaborate to recruit, educate, train and retain wildlife professionals imperative to the successful conservation work being done across the country. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/gZmRTTWK

PhD Roosters Scarce. Paranoid. Elusive. Every late-season rooster holds an advanced degree in hunter evasion. Here's how to outsmart the professor. By Tom Carpenter Any ring-necked pheasant still running around in December and January has earned a graduate degree in eluding hunters and their dogs.  Hardy and experienced winter roosters are scarce (hunted down), paranoid (hunted long) and elusive (hunted hard). October's easy pickings of young, innocent cocks are gone. Welcome to the cagiest, most nervous and neurotic game bird you will ever encounter.  Get to work. Here's how to hunt late season’s PhD roosters. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/giHZVr35

Utilize Your Beautiful Pheasant Tail Feathers this Holiday Season By Mikayla Peper You’ve been pheasant hunting all season long and you’ve collected a few stunning pheasant feathers, what do you do with them now? Instead of letting them sit off to the side somewhere, take advantage of the beautiful tail feathers and create a centerpiece yourself to celebrate the holiday season. Let me walk you through how I created a Christmas themed table centerpiece highlighting pheasant feathers for about $10. My favorite part of this idea, is I was able to forage for a lot of these materials outside right around me, and I can put them back outside when the holidays are over. If you want to create something to use year after year, you can absolutely invest in fake materials when you purchase additions you want such as Christmas bulbs or bows. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/gNAUK_hD

PF & QF's Build a Wildlife Area Program Adds 80 Acres of Public Upland Habitat in Missouri Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever is excited to announce a new Build a Wildlife Area® project in Harrison County, Missouri. Situated near Pawnee Prairie Conservation Area and the Nature Conservancy’s Dunn Ranch, the 80-acre property will increase the connectivity of upland habitat in the area while providing increased public hunting access. This parcel is in the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Grand River Grasslands Priority Geography, an area of core focus for bobwhite quail conservation. It also lies within a core region of the Working Lands for Wildlife – Northern Bobwhite, Grasslands and Savannas Framework for Conservation Action through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. According to the MDC, less than 1 percent of the state’s original prairie remains. It is therefore vital to not only protect existing upland habitat, but to expand it in these unique eco-regions. The property builds on the existing voluntary efforts of private landowners to create a hub of well-managed quail habitat in the region. The 80-acre parcel is currently a mixture of pasture and wooded draws, but habitat improvements will be made to transform the area to native forbs and grasses, as well as implement conservation practices such as edge feathering to improve habitat for bobwhite quail. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/gsaZ4aqH

On The Wing Podcast Ep. 296: What the Proposed ‘Threatened’ Status Means for Monarch Butterflies and Upland Birds Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Chief Conservation Officer Ron Leathers for a conversation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Sergio Pierluissi and AnnMarie Krmppotich about the Service’s announcement last week proposing the monarch butterfly be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The group talks about what this proposed listing means, what it doesn’t mean, and what role PF & QF can play in creating habitat for monarch butterflies and upland birds.   Listen at https://lnkd.in/gaajQJsV