BUILD A WILDLIFE AREA – JIM WOOLEY FAMILY TRACT
Pheasants Forever and the Iowa Natural Heritage foundation are excited to announce a new Build a Wildlife Area® project in central Iowa! Located in Madison and Clarke counties, the 422-acre “Wooley Tract” honors the conservation legacy of Jim Wooley, who retired in 2016 after a 31-year career with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. The tract shares a boundary with the 1,021 Heritage Hills Wildlife Management Area and is a mosaic of grassland with remnant prairie species, hay ground, oak / hickory woodland, and riparian habitat spread across rolling hills. This incredible property will provide quality habitat for ringneck pheasants, bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and a wide variety of other wildlife that depend on these native ecosystems.
DONATE TODAY TO SUPPORT THIS PROJECT
Fast Facts
• 422 acres of woodland and grassland, including 180 acres of woodland and 160 acres of grassland
• The site is adjacent to the 1,021-acre
Heritage Hills WMA, creating a larger tract of habitat and recreation space
• The site will be open to public hunting and recreation
This property has been secured through a unique partnership between Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Build a Wildlife Area® program and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and we need your support to ensure it will be protected and open to public hunting access FOREVER.
Jim Wooley Biography
Jim Wooley
For more than three decades, Jim Wooley provided selfless and dynamic leadership to make Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever the outstanding organization it is today. His influence on wildlife habitat conservation spans throughout the Midwest thanks to innovative programs, research, and ideas that he has contributed to. The conservation community owes a debt of gratitude for Jim’s 31 years of service, and we’re thrilled that it was spent with the Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever family.
For more than three decades, Jim Wooley provided selfless and dynamic leadership to make Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever the outstanding organization it is today.
In 1985, Pheasants Forever hired Wooley as the organization’s first regional biologist after working for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as the state upland game biologist. A well-known player with the upper Midwest conservation community, he was responsible for starting more than 125 local chapters of Pheasants Forever in 6 states, has been the lead for many key partnership efforts in the state of Iowa, managed the organization’s successful seed program, played a vital leadership role in the inception and early development of Quail Forever, and served as a vital committee member of several southern Iowa chapters of Pheasants Forever – most notably, the Southern Prairie and Warren County Chapters of Pheasants Forever.
Wooley’s successful career in the natural resources field was highlighted by many great partnerships, perhaps none greater than Iowa Conservation Buffers Partnership from 1999-2003. During this four-year period, Wooley inspired support from local Pheasants Forever chapters, Iowa Soil & Water Conservation Districts, Iowa Natural Resource Conservation Service, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, and others to implement 215,578 acres of Continuous CRP buffers in 85 percent of Iowa counties.
The partnership used a model of part-time technical employees to advocate for buffers through personal contact with interested landowners. This highly successful partnership changed the face of Iowa’s landscape and became the future model for Pheasants Forever’s farm bill biologist program - which now employs hundreds of biologists throughout the country who worked with 34,648 landowners in 2024 alone, leading to more than 1.7 million acres of habitat improvement for wildlife.