We owe many successes to grassroots advocacy efforts

By: Swanny Evans, PF & QF Director of Government Affairs

Outside of a few states that have extended sessions, full-time legislatures, or ongoing special sessions, the majority of state legislative sessions have come to a close, and with it I closed out my first year as PF & QF’s Director of Government Affairs over the states. As many of you will recall, PF & QF have a long history of engaging on Capitol Hill but are relatively new to the state legislative game. I was hired to build a robust state affairs program, and I would say we are doing just that.

Before I get into the exciting news of what bills passed, and maybe some mention of those that didn’t, I want to talk about how we engaged. Since I am just one person, we rely heavily on our staff, members, and partners to help us engage on the state level. Not a single one of the accomplishments I am going to discuss below would have happened without all three of those groups.

Conservation Advocacy Starts with Members

The greatest strength of PF & QF has always been our members. We have PF & QF members in all 50 states, and we certainly put them to work during the 2026 state sessions. We worked with members across the country to engage them in conservation days at the capitol, one-on-one meetings with their elected officials, public comment periods on regulations, and action alerts. Action alerts were generated through our new Upland Action Center (if you haven’t signed up, I encourage you to do so). This was our first year piloting this system, and it is still very much a work in progress, but it had a large influence. Our members and supporters sent more than 7,500 emails to elected officials through PF & QF state advocacy campaigns.

While those numbers are encouraging, what matters most is that those messages were strategic. We weren't simply chasing volume; we were mobilizing advocates at key moments when their voices could have the most impact, often targeting specific committees or members who lived in the districts of key legislators.

Delivering Results Across the Country

It would be impossible to convey all of our progress from the past year in a single blog post. We engaged in some form or fashion with legislative guidance or active participation in more than 30 states, reviewed hundreds of bills, tracked just over 100 that would impact our work, signed onto or penned almost 30 letters, and sat in the hot seat before legislators for in-person testimony seven times.

For the sake of trying to make sure this is a manageable read, I am not going to focus on the regulatory impacts we had behind the scenes, bills that we helped kill, those that did not make it despite our support or those that are still ongoing, relationships built, or property acquisitions that we influenced. I am solely going to cover the bills we helped champion that have now passed and been signed by the respective governors.

License Plates

When I started, one of the most common calls I got from our membership was regarding the creation of PF & QF license plates. In many states, this requires a bill to pass creating a new specialty license plate. We got to work on this right away and were able to pass bills in South Carolina, Kansas, and Tennessee creating new PF and/or QF license plates. Additionally, in Louisiana, we passed a bill to do a little restructuring and turn that plate into a true QF plate.

These plates will provide a voluntary mechanism to financially support upland conservation, reinforce upland traditions and the conservation ethic in the respective state, and, of course, provide an excellent branding opportunity.

Conservation Funding

Conservation funding is always a hot topic. In Nebraska, we were able to prevent a large sweep from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. In South Dakota, we helped pass legislation providing funding for the Riparian Buffer Initiative. In Minnesota, we helped usher Outdoor Heritage Fund appropriations across the finish line. Just these bills alone will result in hundreds of millions of dollars for conservation. 

One thing that is a little less glamorous when we talk about funding is updating fundraising laws. We worked on this from Washington to Pennsylvania and were successful in getting a bill across the finish line in Iowa, allowing our Regional Representatives and Chapters to conduct calendar raffles.

Access and Habitat

While much of the funding discussed above will improve habitat and public access, so too will the many efforts that never make headlines. This year, we helped stop legislation that threatened access, testified in support of public lands, submitted letters supporting strategic land acquisitions, and mobilized members to advocate for prescribed fire and hunting opportunities on newly acquired public lands.

We also supported four successful bills with direct benefits for habitat management and public access: protecting against the loss of public lands in South Carolina, keeping public lands public in Wyoming, restructuring prescribed fire permitting in Nebraska, and expanding the use of prescribed fire on public lands in South Dakota.

Hunting

The overwhelming majority of our membership are hunters; it is a core part of what we do. As such, we engaged on a number of pieces of legislation that would impact hunting in one way or another, and five of those that we supported did make it across the finish line this past year.

Georgia, Tennessee, and Michigan will now allow for hunter education in schools. Maryland updated its Sunday hunting laws, loosening restrictions, and Pennsylvania completely removed the legislative prohibition. In Indiana, we helped prevent the dismantling of the Natural Resources Commission, which stood to have negative impacts on hunting.

Partnerships Make Progress Possible

Conservation policy is a team sport. Whether it was state and national conservation organizations, natural resource agencies, legislators, coalition partners, PF & QF staff, chapter volunteers, or grassroots advocates, every one of these victories required people willing to work together toward a common goal. In some cases, broad coalitions came together around a shared objective. In others, individual legislators stepped up to champion upland wildlife, habitat, and hunting opportunities.

Time and again, our partners brought expertise, relationships, credibility, guidance, and local knowledge that strengthened our efforts. Those relationships are some of the most valuable assets we have, and they will continue to be critical as we grow our state affairs work.

Looking Ahead

While most legislatures have adjourned for the year, the work certainly has not stopped.

The relationships built, lessons learned, and grassroots network strengthened throughout 2026 have created a foundation for even greater impact moving forward. We will continue expanding the State Affairs Program, growing member engagement, strengthening partnerships, and advocating for policies that improve habitat, increase public access, support hunting, and conserve wildlife for future generations.

Conservation victories rarely happen overnight. More often than not, they are the result of persistence, partnership, and people willing to get involved.

To every PF & QF member and supporter who responded to an action alert, attended a capitol day, met with a legislator, or championed conservation in their community, thank you.

To every partner who stood alongside us in pursuit of shared conservation goals, thank you.

To every PF & QF staff member who took time out of a busy schedule to jump in and help with last-minute policy issues, thank you.

Together, we are building a stronger voice for wildlife, habitat, hunting, and the future of upland conservation, and I look forward to what we can accomplish together in the 2027 legislative sessions.