BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a 10-year partnership with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever to accomplish shared goals in managing grassland and upland habitats and promoting workforce development, education and outreach that support mutual conservation goals.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, the organizations will collectively develop a work plan through 2034. The agreement focuses on habitat improvements that may be implemented on lands managed by the National Wildlife Refuge System, as well as on private lands under the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and other conservation programs that are affiliated with the Farm Bill. During this long-term partnership, the organizations also will collaborate to recruit, educate, train and retain wildlife professionals who are imperative to successful conservation work across the country.
The partnership also commits the organizations to advancing monarch butterfly conservation through education, habitat restoration, increased seeding of plant species that are critical to monarchs, sharing data that support increased conservation efforts, and joint communications that encourage stakeholders to support and participate in monarch conservation.
“Our organizations have been consistent and committed partners for many years, and I’m excited to see this relationship grow even stronger,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams. “Together we will reach out across the federal network of land management agencies to apply a whole-of-government approach to meet these conservation objectives.”
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been a key partner of our organization, and we’re very excited to continue that relationship with this MOU,” said Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever President and CEO Marilyn Vetter. “High-quality conservation 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.”
Under the agreement, the partners also will support each other’s efforts to improve collaboration across the land management community, with partners such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, and U.S. Forest Service; Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Defense; Bureau of Land Management; National Park Service; and others that play a role in conservation
About Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever
Founded in 1982, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever is a private, 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to conserving pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education and conservation advocacy by serving as the national voice for upland habitat conservation. The organization currently has 760 volunteer-led chapters embedded in communities across the United States and Canada who strive to make a difference for wildlife and people. The model empowers local chapters to determine how they expend locally raised dollars to benefit the organizational mission. The organization’s vision is to endeavor to create a North American landscape of quality habitat supporting wild, sustainable populations of upland game birds and other wildlife that are accessible to generations of hunters and conservationists.