Pheasants Forever Promotes Nelson to Northern Minnesota Regional Representative
Pheasants Forever 10.06.14
Pheasants Forever has promoted Emilee Nelson, a Minnesota native, to the organization’s position of Northern Minnesota Regional Representative. Prior to her promotion, Nelson was in charge of coordinating Minnesota’s Prairie Conservation Plan as Pheasants Forever’s Coordinating Wildlife Biologist. In her new role, Nelson looks to further develop Pheasants Forever’s presence in Minnesota, which is currently home to 75 Pheasants Forever chapters, two Quail Forever chapters, and more than 24,000 members.
“Nelson has shown exceptional leadership as Minnesota’s first Coordinating Wildlife Biologist,” stated Tom Fuller, Pheasants Forever’s north region director. “Given her proven leadership, I am confident she will be a dedicated and dependable team leader who will deliver Pheasants Forever’s mission with the utmost integrity and enthusiasm.”
Growing up in Minneapolis, Nelson spent a lot of time at her family’s cabin in Otter Tail County developing her skills as an avid hunter and angler. “I’m extremely excited to meet with the chapters and volunteers who live and work in the region where I first learned to hunt,” explained Nelson. “The public lands in Northern Minnesota that Pheasants Forever chapters helped acquire over the years allowed me to develop the strong passion I have for the outdoors. That kind of passion is what I look forward to instilling, with the help of those amazing chapters, in the next generation of outdoorsmen and women.”
Nelson earned a B.S. in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology in 2011 from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining Pheasants Forever in 2013, Nelson was as a project specialist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, working on trout stream easements baseline documentation and monitoring in Southeast Minnesota. Nelson will officially start as the Northern Minnesota Regional Representative on October 20, 2014 and can be contacted at (507) 430-8499 / enelson@pheasantsforever.org.
Contact
Jared Wiklund (651) 209-4953
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.
