October 2024 was a remarkable month not only for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, but also for wingshooters and conservationists countrywide. In quick succession, the twin nonprofit organizations received three funding awards from the federal government totaling $73.8 million.
The dollars are the result of applications submitted in Arizona, Montana and South Dakota through the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).
The South Dakota award, given to PF, will provide $24.3 million to fund a 50,000-acre prescribed fire and technical assistance for an additional 75,000 acres of the state’s farming and ranching community. This initiative is part of an ambitious effort to address the “green glacier,” an encroachment of eastern red cedar threatening grassland ecosystems.
Another $25 million will advance PF’s Montana Grasslands and Wildlife Corridors Initiative. The funds will help remove or modify 200 miles of fence to facilitate wildlife movement, seed 5,000 acres of grass, contract management improvements on 10,000 acres and establish reliable livestock water on 100,000 acres of grasslands.
QF received $24.5 million to help fund a vital project titled Restoring Arizona’s Colorado River Basin Conservation Area. Working together with local and state agencies, team members will restore native plant communities by removing invasive woody plants in the Colorado River Basin. This award will add approximately 35,000 acres of restored habitat. The partners will also work with Arizona ranchers to complete projects to benefit livestock grazing as forage production increases after invasive-brush removal.
“Each of these RCPPs will dramatically impact conservation efforts in their respective states for years to come,” said Casey Sill, Senior Public Relations Specialist for PF and QF. “We’re already underway in Montana, and the other two projects are beginning shortly.”
With more than 477,000 members, supporters and partners, PF and QF make up the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland-habitat conservation. Since its creation in 1982, the organization has dedicated more than $1 billion to 580,000 habitat projects benefiting 28.8 million acres.
For more information, visit pheasantsforever.org or quailforever.org.
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