Passionate quail hunter and conservationist will help grow the Quail Forever brand
The Habitat Organization is proud to announce Ryan Sparks has been hired as the new editor of the Quail Forever Journal, the signature publication of the nation’s foremost quail habitat conservation group. A longtime outdoor writer and photographer, Sparks will now help create both print and digital content celebrating the history of conservation, and the heritage of quail hunting across the country.
“We’re thrilled to have Ryan join the organization,” said Bob St. Pierre, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s chief marketing & communications officer. “His writing speaks to a genuine passion for quail conservation, and I look forward to seeing him harness that passion to help tell our story.”
In his new role, Sparks will manage the production of Quail Forever’s quarterly magazine, which has a circulation of over 18,000. He will also produce digital content for the organization’s website and social media platforms, and help grow the Quail Forever brand through membership, events, media, marketing and corporate partnerships.
Sparks grew up in southeast Nebraska at the confluence of the Platte and Missouri rivers, where he hunted bobwhite quail with his father and both grandfathers. During his childhood, his father ran a kennel of Elhew English pointers. Sparks has followed his own pointers from Montana to Minnesota to Florida, hunting everything from sage grouse to his favorite bird, the bobwhite quail. Sparks currently lives with his wife in southern Minnesota but is building a home on his family’s farm in Nebraska where he plans to put down permanent roots and improve the farm’s quail habitat.
Prior to joining Quail Forever, Sparks was the associate editor at Safari Club International. He has also served as the editor-in-chief of Strung Sporting Journal, a quarterly publication that covers a wide swath of outdoor topics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and English from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and an M.A. in environmental history from Montana State University where he wrote his graduate thesis about the history of bobwhite quail in Nebraska’s Platte River Valley. He has also written for numerous well-known publications including Gray’s Sporting Journal, Field & Stream, The Flyfish Journal, The Pointing Dog Journal, Shooting Sportsman, and MeatEater, among many others
“I’m honored by the opportunity to tell the story of quail, quail hunters, and the habitat they both rely on,” Sparks said. “No one is doing more for quail and quail habitat than Quail Forever. I’m excited to continue the tradition of excellence at Quail Forever Journal.”