National Pheasant Fest 2013 in Minneapolis to Mark Pheasants Forever’s 30th Anniversary
Pheasants Forever 02.20.12
Pheasants Forever will hold its annual National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic on February 15, 16 and 17, 2013 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The national convention and outdoor tradeshow will mark the Twin Cities-based wildlife habitat conservation organization’s 30th anniversary.
The nonprofit Pheasants Forever – which formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1982 and is currently headquartered in the nearby suburb of White Bear Lake – has grown to more than 130,000 members and 700 chapters across the U.S. and Canada. Members, chapter volunteers and the public will celebrate at the organization’s largest event, which features hundreds of exhibits, bird dogs, seminars, special events and attractions. Pheasants Forever’s last national event in Minnesota drew 29,802 attendees in 2008, the largest event in PF history.
“What was, three decades ago, a fledgling conservation group being run out of a house basement has matured into an organization that delivered more than $50 million last year to our wildlife habitat conservation mission,” said Howard Vincent, President and CEO of Pheasants Forever and its quail division, Quail Forever (which it formed in 2005), “Pheasants Forever’s success is built by thousands of volunteers who’ve donated time, money, sweat, energy and passion for the altruistic cause of conserving this nation’s precious uplands and wetlands. It’s important for us to celebrate these anniversary milestones, but more important to say ‘thank you’ to our supporters.”
Fittingly, the celebration will take place in the organization’s birth place, as Pheasants Forever was formed by a group of Minnesota pheasant hunters who saw the need for habitat preservation and restoration in 1982. Pheasants Forever’s first accomplishment was as the instrumental player in the passage of Minnesota Pheasant Habitat Stamp legislation, to this day required by all Minnesota pheasant hunters. Today, Minnesota is home to 77 Pheasants Forever chapters, 2 Quail Forever chapters and 25,000 members. Pheasants Forever has spent more than $52 million on habitat and conservation education in the state, including more than $37 million on 33,770 acres that have been purchased, permanently protected and opened to public hunting and outdoor recreation.
Nationwide, Pheasants Forever has spent more than $407 million on wildlife habitat projects and conservation education. Those funds have translated into 441,963 habitat projects benefiting 8.4 million acres across North America, and put 100,046 youngsters through mentored hunts and shooting sports events. Pheasants Forever also owns a program efficiency of 91.7 percent – the most efficient national conservation organization in the country.
Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic is the country’s largest event for upland hunters, sport dog owners and wildlife habitat conservationists, combining a national outdoor tradeshow, wildlife habitat seminar series, and family event complete with puppies, tractors, shotguns and art.
“We are thrilled to be bringing our signature event home to celebrate 30 years of successes, but also to rally our supporters for the habitat battles on the horizon,” added Joe Duggan, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Corporate Sales.
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 130,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent, the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure.
Pheasants Forever launched Quail Forever in August of 2005 to address the continuing loss of habitat suitable for quail and the subsequent quail population decline. Bobwhite population losses over the last 25 years range from 60 to 90 percent across the country. The reason for the quail population plunge is simple - massive losses of habitat suitable for quail. There are five major factors leading to the losses of quail habitat; intensified farming and forestry practices, succession of grassland ecosystems to forests, overwhelming presence of exotic grasses like fescue that choke out wildlife, and urban sprawl.
