Pheasants Forever Hosting 17 Landowner Habitat Tours Across Nebraska
Pheasants Forever 05.16.13
Tours are free of charge, kick off this week
Nebraska Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever (QF) wildlife biologists from across the state are hosting 17 different landowner habitat tours during the next four months. These tours are designed to demonstrate habitat management practices, available conservation programs, the financial benefits of conservation programs and how to create the best results on your next habitat project.
The tours, which are free of charge, kick off on Thursday, May 16 with the Cedar Tree Removal for Recreation & Wildlife Tour at Camp Moses Merrill in Linwood and conclude with a Rangeland Management Workshop on the 16 of August in Holt County. Click here to view the complete landowner habitat tour schedule.
Notable dates during the landowner habitat tour circuit include five tours June 18 through June 21 as part of National Pollinator Week. (Pheasants and quail share a common need for habitat featuring flowering plants with pollinating insects like honey bees, butterflies, beetles, and bats.) Click here for all tour locations and descriptions.
The wide range of topics being offered this year cover many different wildlife management topics and will offer opportunities to see first-hand results of local habitat projects. A sampling of tour topics includes Co-existence of Pheasants, Quail and Agriculture; Pollinators and Habitats; Making Your Farm or Ranch Operation Work with Wildlife; Fire in the Pine Ridge; and Habitat Hayrack Ride: CRP Upgrades and Long Term Management.
In addition to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, the 2013 landowner habitat tours are made possible with support from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The tours are free of charge and a free meal is also provided. To register for any of the 17 habitat tours go to www.NebraskaPF.com or contact Pheasants Forever’s Pam Grossart at (308) 850-8395 / email Pam.
Pheasants Forever launched Quail Forever in August of 2005 to address the continuing loss of habitat suitable for quail and the subsequent quail population decline. Bobwhite population losses over the last 25 years range from 60 to 90 percent across the country. The reason for the quail population plunge is simple - massive losses of habitat suitable for quail. There are five major factors leading to the losses of quail habitat; intensified farming and forestry practices, succession of grassland ecosystems to forests, overwhelming presence of exotic grasses like fescue that choke out wildlife, and urban sprawl.
