Kelsi Wehrman Promoted to Nebraska State Coordinator
Pheasants Forever 08.18.14
Pheasants Forever has promoted Kelsi Wehrman to the position of Nebraska State Coordinator. In this new role, Wehrman will lead the organization’s team of 21 Farm Bill wildlife biologists and coordinating wildlife biologists in partnership with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Together, the team is responsible for partnership habitat programs in the state like Corners for Wildlife, Grasslands Improvement Program and Habitat Share.
“The Pheasants Forever team in Nebraska is a great collection of passionate, energetic, and knowledgeable people and I am thrilled to be able to use my own experiences to lead the group,” explained Wehrman. “Together with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and other partners, we will work toward producing innovative conservation strategies to increase and improve wildlife habitat across the state. Youth programs and habitat education will also remain a top priority for the organization.”
Wehrman has spent the last seven years as a Pheasants Forever Farm Bill wildlife biologist. In the role, she’s worked in partnership with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide habitat guidance to private landowners. Wehrman has extensive experience developing management plans for improving wildlife populations utilizing a wide variety of local, state and federal conservation programs to accomplish habitat goals. Further, she’s an expert in utilizing a wide variety of land management techniques to improve habitat conditions, including: prescribed burning, rotational grazing, inter-seeding, and chemical application.
“Kelsi is an extremely smart and talented wildlife professional. Beginning with her childhood on the family farm in southeast Nebraska through her seven years as a Pheasants Forever Farm Bill wildlife biologist, Kelsi has been growing toward this position her entire life,” reported Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs.
“We are excited to have Kelsi bring her professional talents and passion to this leadership role for habitat conservation in Nebraska,” added Tim McCoy, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s deputy director.
Wehrman was raised on the family farm near Fairbury, Neb. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in fisheries and wildlife science from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, she gained experience as a conservation technician and wildlife biologist with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Pheasants Forever hired her as a Farm Bill wildlife biologist in 2007. Wehrman and her husband also farm and ranch near Nelson, Neb., where they are raising two children.
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.
