Celebrating 31 Years of Conservation: Pheasants Forever’s Jim Wooley Transitions into Retirement

Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever is honored to announce the retirement of Jim Wooley, a 31-year veteran of “The Habitat Organization” and the current Director of Field Operations for Quail Forever. Wooley transitions into retirement on August 5th after serving an illustrious career in the state of Iowa, defined by a lifelong pursuit for the betterment of wildlife and public lands throughout the state.
 
“For more than three decades, Jim Wooley has provided selfless and dynamic leadership to make Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever the outstanding organization it is today,” explained Howard Vincent, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s president and CEO. “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.”
 
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 entity 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 very successful seed program, and has been a vital committee member of several southern Iowa chapters of Pheasants Forever – most notably, the Southern Prairie Chapter of Pheasants Forever in Lucas County.
 
Wooley’s successful career in the natural resources field is highlighted by many great partnerships, but perhaps none greater than Iowa Conservation Buffers Partnership from 1999-2003. During this four-year period, he garnered 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 other partners to help implement 215,578 acres of Continuous CRP buffers in 85 percent of Iowa counties.
 
The Buffers 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 popular private lands program - the Farm Bill Biologist Partnership - which now employs 119 biologists throughout the country who worked with 35,809 landowners in 2015 alone, leading to nearly 1.4 million acres of habitat improvement for wildlife.
 
Wooley looks forward to spending more quality time in retirement with his wife, Amy, and of course, in the woods, fields, and waters of Iowa enjoying the great outdoors. For more information, please contact Jared Wiklund at (651) 209-4953.
 
About Pheasants Forever
 
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 149,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent; the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure. Since creation in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent $634 million on 502,000 habitat projects benefiting 14.1 million acres nationwide.

Media Contact
Jared Wiklund
(651) 209-4953
jwiklund@pheasantsforever.org