25 Pioneering Habitat Projects (part 3 of 5)
Happy 25th Anniversary Pheasants Forever! This third part of a five-part series marks Pheasants Forever's 25th Anniversary celebration, which culminates at the National Pheasant Fest Jan. 18-20, 2008 in St. Paul, Minnesota. During the next year, we will thank and honor the pioneers of Pheasants Forever who made it all possible. The past quarter century, you, our hard working volunteers, members and partners, have made this organization a recognized force in the conservation world on many levels. We owe our success to you!
Pheasants Forever was founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1982. Over 800 people, hunter-conservationists alarmed by the declining pheasant population and our threatened upland hunting heritage, attended PF's first banquet in 1983. What followed that first event was an explosion of new chapters around the country in support of a dream — a unique new conservation formula that allowed local chapters to keep the money they raised to complete local habitat projects for pheasants and other wildlife and to improve precious soil and water resources for all.
We continue our 25th Anniversary coverage this issue by honoring "25 Pioneering Habitat Projects". These are but a few of the outstanding projects that have made PF a national conservation powerhouse. Thanks everybody for a job well done over the years!.
Upcoming 25th Anniversary articles will include 25 Pioneering Partners and Sponsors and finally in our Summer 2008 issue 25 Pioneering Youth Leaders.
25 Pioneering Habitat Projects
Chuck Uphoff is a dairy farmer in Grove Township, Minnesota, and was interested in enrolling a meadow in CRP and completing a 15-acre wetland restoration. Long story short - this property was NOT eligible for CRP or other federal programs for various reasons. The project had real potential, however, so Chuck kept looking for possible funding sources. After several phone discussions, meetings and e-mails, PF finally put a group of organizations together and got this project on the ground.
Partners on the project included Pheasants Forever, Stearns County SWCD, Area 5 Joint Powers, Stearns County and the Sauk River Watershed District. Chuck now has plans to make the wetland area handicap accessible and host hunts for them.
For the third straight year, Nebraska's Sherman County Chapter volunteers have donated their time, equipment and energy to upgrade the habitat on Sherman Reservoir Wildlife Management Area. This April, chapter volunteers and area farmers came together to upgrade over 150 acres of habitat. Over the last three years, the volunteers have upgraded another 650+ acres on Sherman reservoir as part of the "Focus on Pheasants" program. In 2003, local volunteers upgraded an astonishing 300+ acres of habitat in a single day. The early indications of the work completed in the past three years is that pheasant, quail and grassland songbird numbers have all increased dramatically!
Illinois' Bill Bryan completed a habitat project on his land that has been a showcase for years. In fact, PF leaders in the state held their first Illinois Habitat workshop there. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources' ecoteams have also conducted experimental habitat work on the land.
Bill has been a past chapter president and state council president. Much of the property has been managed with funds from the Illinois Habitat Stamp and Pheasant Fund.
Since 2004, the Kansas Post Rock Ringnecks Chapter has improved 845 acres of CRP by interseeding with forbs and legumes to improve brood-habitat and burned to improve nesting and brood-rearing habitat for pheasants, quail and other wildlife on 2,800 acres of CRP. These projects were completed on 42 separate CRP fields in Lincoln County. An added bonus for the pheasant hunter is that over 75 percent of those acres are enrolled in the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks popular Walk-In Hunting Access Program. Although the chapter is one of the smallest in Kansas, it continues to set the standard for habitat accomplishments in the state.
It all started with an organizational meeting in 1985 when Iowa's Carroll County Chapter formed. Since then, the chapter has set a national record, establishing 1,300 miles of buffer strip habitat along rivers, streams and other waterways. The chapter saw buffers as a way to promote wildlife habitat conservation, water quality and quality of life for folks in Carroll County when the options were few. The project brought together chapter volunteers and many agency and landowner partners. Chapter volunteers visited countless landowners about conservation buffer benefits; helped fund mailings to landowners that included maps and detailed financial information; created monthly "Farming with Pride" radio shows that were broadcast on a state-wide radio; used print media to promote buffers such as local and statewide newspapers (Des Moines Register and Omaha World Herald), farming media such as Wallaces Farmer and Iowa Farmer Today, and wildlife media such as the Journal of Soil & Water Conservation and Pheasants Forever Journal; and harvested local sources of native grass seed to meet demand for native grasses, then gave the seed to landowners at no cost for conservation plantings.
Since 1995, Pennsylvania's Tri-County Chapter has been working with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program to restore farmland habitat for pheasants and other wildlife in the Pike Run Watershed. In cooperation with the Richard King Mellon Foundation and agencies such as the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Ducks Unlimited, over $2.5 million has been brought in and used for restoration of stream banks, wetlands, native grasses, native wildflowers and farmland for habitat. In the past 12 years, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and Pheasants Forever have established over 322 miles of stream bank fencing, created and protected over 3,200 acres of wetlands and planted over 4,400 acres of native grasslands in Pennsylvania.
The Eastern Front of the Rockies may not be the first spot folks think of when they envision pheasants rising in front of a pointing dog, but on the plains just east of those majestic mountains in Montana, pheasants fair very well.
Freezeout Lake is also a major staging area for migrating geese. Agricultural fields in the vicinity are used heavily as those birds head south. That agricultural zone is also well known in Montana for the pheasant hunting it provides. The Headwaters Chapter in Helena and the Upper Missouri River Chapter in Great Falls have tag-teamed a habitat project near the community of Fairfield. In cooperation with a local landowner, the chapter has identified the need for tree plantings and food plots to enhance existing nesting habitat.
Located in an area where annual moisture is only 10-15 inches, the chapters share the work to fill a water tank and put water on each tree. Either of these two chapters could have taken this project on, but they collaborated and shared the workload. Cooperation and partnership, a hallmark of PF's 25 years of conservation leadership!
For years, PF chapters in western Nebraska have pooled their resources to upgrade habitat on Nebraska's walk-in-access areas (CRP-MAP) in southwestern Nebraska. Dan Rochford is the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission district manager and habitat chairman for the Cody Ringnecks chapter in North Platte. He said all five Southwestern Nebraska chapters (Cody Ringnecks, Western NE Ringnecks, Southwestern NE, Plains Sportsman and Medicine Creek) stepped up to the challenge and contributed $28,600 to the program. Their contributions improved over 1,576 acres of habitat for the "Focus on Pheasants" program.
One of the first projects in Carroll County Maryland has proven to be one of its best. Completed by Melody and Grant Smith, the 12-acre warm season grass planting has become a haven for wildlife. Eight years ago, the Smiths decided to do something for wildlife. They contacted the local Farm Service Agency office as well as Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologist Mark Hooper. He said the Smith's two back fields qualified for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and warm season grass planting.
"Now, after two controlled burns and lots of rain, the lovely, green grasses tower above our heads. The varying shades of greens and reds make a delightful backdrop for the brilliant yellow of black-eyed Susans. As we ride around our fields, we can't imagine a more wonderful way to help conserve nature and our Earth," wrote Melody, the chapter's president.
The Edgar County, Illinois, Chapter worked with the city of Paris for permission to convert a large piece of property into a beautiful restored wetland and upland habitat wildlife area. The land had been used in the 1990s as a dump site for sediment dredged out of a local lake. After receiving permission, the chapter paired up funding with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Habitat Stamp Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Partners Program and the Edgar County Wildlife Fund to make the restoration happen. The chapter is now using the area to provide hunting opportunities for youth and people with disabilities. This is an all-star project that shows what can be accomplished when everybody combines their efforts and works together.
Michigan's Eaton County PF was given a unique opportunity in 2006 to help develop wildlife habitat at the new 1,100 acre GM Lansing Delta Township automotive plant in Lansing. The site contained 75 acres of field, woods and two wetlands. The chapter worked with GM to develop a planting plan for 35 acres of native prairie and wildflowers, nature trails, tree and shrub plantings and to install a variety of nesting boxes for wildlife. The project has been certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council. Additionally, PF worked with GM and Waldumar Nature Center to develop a curriculum for the site for local schools to use for environmental education. In its 25 years, PF has always worked to bring along the next generation!
Minnesota's Nobles County Chapter is quite proud of its Peterson Slough project. Scott Rall, chapter leader, said the project includes a 40-acre acquisition that connects with two state wildlife management areas and protects the drinking water for the city of Worthington. The project was used to leverage another $70,000 in North American Wetlands Conservation Act funds that will be used to purchase another 25 acres and restore another 50.
The chapter completed PF's first ever land acquisition, a beginning that has led to a total of 18 acquisitions over a 24-year period totaling over 1250 acres! Nobles County PF will celebrate its 25th year in 2008 and boasts the fact that over 75 percent of the volunteers that started the chapter are still active in helping to pursue the mission of Pheasants Forever. It's this kind of volunteer dedication that has driven PF's 25 years of conservation success.
Missouri's Ten Rivers Chapter's showcase project is on the Keith Farm. There, 43 acres of CRP were choked with fescue and trees, with nary a pheasant or quail on the property. The chapter and partners conducted a lot of tree edge feathering to create winter escape cover, cleared countless trees, established carefully located food plots, burned and have now even started establishing native grasses for nesting/brooding cover.
Best of all, the chapter's work has convinced the neighbors to get involved in habitat management on their properties and they have now joined the chapter's committee to help plan future endeavors.
Ohio's John Kaiser, Darke County SWCD wildlife specialist and Darke County Chapter habitat chairperson, said in the spring of 2002, the Stillwater Watershed Project purchased a conservation easement on four miles of abandoned railroad for the Annie Oakley Corridor Project. Since the beginning of the project, both the Darke and Miami County PF Chapters have been valuable partners in helping fund and implement the corridor project.
The project title includes "Annie Oakley" because as a girl, Oakley helped her family survive by hunting and selling wild game to restaurants in the big cities.
The corridor project has been successful in the enhancement and creation of a 10.5-mile contiguous wildlife habitat corridor (consisting of native grasses, forbs and shrubby cover) from the Darke Wildlife Area to the Stillwater Prairie Reserve.
Colorado's Phillips County Chapter made a 160-acre land acquisition in southern Sedgwick County. Since the purchase of the property, the chapter has planted 10 miles of trees (10,000 trees), purchased a well to pump water into a small wetland and planted around 40 acres of food plots. The property is enrolled in the state's walk-in access program every year, making it available to the general public.
Creation of the Chichaqua Wildlife Area was spearheaded by Iowa's Capitol Chapter. Other chapters supporting the project include the Iowa State PF Council, North Polk, Beaver Creek, Mud Creek, Jasper Co., Story Co., Iowa State University Chapter, Boone Co. and Dallas Co., The Chichaqua Bottoms began as a small county-owned wildlife area in 1960. It grew slowly over the next three decades until the summer of 1993, when the extreme weather showed everybody they had not quite tamed the rivers of the Midwest.
Chichaqua Bottoms was within the floodplain of the South Skunk River 10 miles northeast of Des Moines, Iowa. The dikes had failed along the Skunk and thousands of acres of low-lying farmland were inundated that summer. The Polk County Conservation Board, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the NRCS, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and private conservation groups led by Pheasants Forever began to acquire easements and fee title to property along the Skunk. Since that summer in1993, more than $15 million has been invested in acquisition and restoration efforts on over 8,750 acres!
Through the efforts of public agencies and private conservationists, Chichaqua has become one of the Midwest's premier ecological restoration projects. A recent study of bird life at Chichaqua found at least 204 species using the restored lands including a strong population of pheasants. In its 25 years, PF chapters around the country have sown many small seeds that have since grown into major projects.
Wyoming's Bighorn Basin Chapter has been involved in the development and improvement of the Yellowtail Recreation Area on the banks of the Bighorn River's Yellowtail Reservoir. Over the last eight years, the chapter has spent nearly $10,000 for all aspects of wildlife habitat including foodplots and quality nesting areas. The Bighorn Basin Chapter has partnered with Wyoming Game and Fish as well as the National Wild Turkey Federation. The partnership has created one of the premier public hunting areas for pheasants, deer, waterfowl and wild turkeys.
South Dakota's Heartland Region Chapter has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited and the Beadle County Sportman's Club to create one of the premier pheasant hunting areas in eastern South Dakota - the federal Ingle Waterfowl Production Area (WPA). The chapter has spent thousands of dollars to convert crop ground and fields of smooth brome to quality nesting habitat featuring diverse stands of warm season native grasses. The Ingle consists of 600 acres of grassland habitat and 126 acres of wetlands. Since 2004, 270 acres of cropland have been converted back to quality pheasant habitat. The Ingle is just one of countless examples of one of PF's best partners the last quarter century - the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Thom Maher, Northeast Indiana Chapter VP, said the chapter's Eagle Marsh Project is significant because of its size and quality. The 680-acre restoration is owned by the Little River Wetlands Project (LRWP), a Fort Wayne non-profit group with a mission to protect and restore wetlands. LRWP's board president is Thom Maher, who is also a NE Indiana Chapter member. Maher said the chapter's habitat chairman, Dave Hurley, did a great job finding a crew of dedicated volunteers (see photo) to complete the project.
Iowa's Winneshiek County Chapter Habitat Chair Terry Handfield said the chapter has planted so much CRP grass that it is first in the state and fifth among PF's 600 chapters nationwide. The pheasant population has responded well to the improvements, as have the area's naturally reproducing brown trout due to the cleaner water.
What sets this chapter apart, beyond the large number of acres planted, is the innovative and aggressive cost-share opportunities provided to landowners to plant DIVERSE mixes of CRP. With chapter cost-share added to existing FSA payments, landowners in Winneshiek County are able to bypass 95 percent of the expenses for planting.
When you look at a map of North Dakota, Lake Sakakawea on the Missouri River is a prominent landscape feature. Covering 365,000 acres and stretching 150 miles from the Garrison Dam west to the Montana State Line, there is over 1,500 miles of shoreline. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers holds title to 119,000 acres around the lake. ND Game and Fish manages 32,000 acres of wildlife management areas under contract.
Many acres are available to upland bird hunters and the Sakakawea Chapter in Garrison, ND has worked closely with Corps land managers for years to improve habitat. The chapter, for example, has planted trees and helped maintain them. Chapter volunteers have also hand planted replacement trees in wildlife shelterbelts. Some Corps recreation areas have also benefited from Sakakawea Chapter food plots as well.
One special chapter effort is the Outdoor Wildlife Learning Site (OWLS). The chapter has worked with the Corps and the local school to create this area where local school kids help plant trees and play an active role in habitat complex development.
Wisconsin's Ozaukee/Washington County Chapter strives to put every penny it makes at its annual banquet back into the ground by cost sharing projects, purchasing equipment for their PF Habitat Teams and going out and getting their hands dirty on projects. The chapter has planted over 4,000 trees on shelterbelt projects and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program sites in the last three years, doing the work at no cost to the landowner. The chapter has cost shared three wildlife scrape installations on CRP land and cost shared seed mix upgrades on over 400 acres of CRP for a cost share value of over $10,000 the last three years. This chapter has removed invasive trees with chainsaws and treated stumps with herbicide on more than 50 acres of degraded CRP in Ozaukee County, again at no charge to the landowner.
Just an hour north of Milwaukee, Ozaukee County has several townships that are seeing what happens when large tracts of CRP land meet with PF dollars and volunteer dedication. This project demonstrates that when people want to get the grass in the ground, they have been able to depend on PF local chapters for 25 years.
The Central Jersey Chapter Pheasants Forever in conjunction with the township of Readington and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently completed the planting of over 20 acres of warm season grasses at the municipally owned Stickney Farm Museum. Located in Hunterdon County in the northwest of New Jersey, the museum farm has a total of over 60 acres primarily farmed for feed hay.
Efforts began in 2006 when portions of the farm were plowed, treated with herbicide and planted with a warm season grass mix of big bluestem, little bluestem and switch grass as well as sunflowers. After one year, the NRCS staff and township officials were encouraged enough to propose several other municipally owned properties for conversion to warm season grasses. As in the Stickney Farm project, the chapter will again assist by applying for Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program funding. As PF has found since 1982, nothing begets success like success.
The Illinois Pioneer Chapter helped found the Habitat Wheel Initiative concept in 2003. The Habitat Wheel Initiative's aim is to increase grassland by forging a partnership between Pheasants Forever, landowners and government agencies.
John Buhnerkempe, head of wildlife resources for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), said the wheel "is creating a whole landscape of habitat rather than just small patches here and there. There's a lot of biological design in this."
The starting point for each habitat wheel is acquisition of a central "hub" planted in grass and designed to offer nesting cover and winter shelter. Public hunting is also allowed on the hub. From there, surrounding landowners are encouraged to enroll in federal Farm Bill conservation programs. That creates additional habitat branching off from the hub like spokes on a wheel.
Through mid-December of 2006, PF was partnering with the IDNR on two of an expected 16 habitat wheels in Illinois. Those first wheels radiate out from the 635-acre Sibley Pheasant Habitat Area in Ford County and the 118-acre Whitefield Pheasant Habitat Area in Marshall County. Work is starting on a third 313-acre habitat wheel in Montgomery County, which was acquired thanks to the IDNR, the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and five PF county chapters (Grand Prairie, Iroquois, DeKalb, McHenry and DuPage). The Habitat Wheel shows PF has had the confidence the past 25 years to dream big and succeed big.
Among the projects done by Iowa's Clinton County are its schoolyard habitats. The chapter was the first in the state to complete a schoolyard habitat project. In the early 90s, the chapter saw a two-fold problem: children's disconnect from nature and school districts lack of funds for field trips. Since the youth couldn't come to the prairie, the chapter took the prairie to the school! The chapter paid for and planted native grass prairies on just about every campus in the county from elementary schools to community colleges.
