Habitat & Conservation  |  04/11/2014

Recognizing 25 Years of the Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program


Last week at the North American Wildlife & Natural Resources Conference, it was my pleasure to present United States Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe with a plaque commemorating 25 years of the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.
 
 
 
During the presentation, I reflected back on the Program’s 25-years of habitat successes and the people responsible for those achievements.  My fond memories included folks like Jim Gritman, who initiated the Partners program, and Carl Madsen, who wrote the very first private land contract under the Program.
 
 
 
Today at Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever, we work with some great U.S. Fish & Wildlife Partners staff; including, the teams Heather Johnson (Region 6) and Lori Nordstrom (Region 3) supervise.
 
 
 
Just two weeks ago it was my honor to help Partners program biologist Kurt Forman brief the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission on the plights of prairies and wetlands due to the loss of acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program.  We also discussed the variety of ways CRP is of critical importance to the Prairie Pothole region that includes North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.
 
 
 
It’s been a great partnership and Quail Forever was pleased to offer our congratulations to the entire Partners program team.  They’ve done a great job helping private lands farmers and ranchers complete wildlife habitat projects these past 25 years.
 
 
 
The D.C. Minute is written by Dave Nomsen, Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Relations.