First grassland project in Michigan's new game area program is turning 237 acres into prime upland habitat. And that's just a start.
Thanks to funding from Pheasants Forever, Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), the Hal & Jean Glassen Memorial Foundation and individual donors, The Habitat Organization is now helping accelerate grassland restoration on public lands throughout Michigan by implementing the state’s first Adopt-A-Game-Area Program (AAGAP).
Joining other states in the Midwest with similar programs – Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois – Pheasants Forever in Michigan will develop project specifications and assign contractors to complete habitat projects on identified public lands, starting with 20 tracts in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula. Project funds for AAGAP are derived from chapter proceeds and sources separate from Wildlife Habitat Grants (heavily supported through MDNR finances), effectively maximizing the amount of assets available for additional habitat projects throughout the state’s pheasant range.
Pheasants Forever’s Ben Beaman, the new program coordinator, completed the first 21-acre grassland project at Coldwater Lake State Park with funding from the Branch County Chapter of Pheasants Forever, local ecotype seed and herbicide from the MDNR Parks and Recreation Division, and contracted planting and herbicide spraying by the Branch County Conservation District. Collaboration with the MDNR and donors is now taking place to transform 216 acres of cropland at Coldwater Lake State Park into upland habitat benefitting pheasants, hunters and bird dogs.
Interested in supporting this initiative with a donation or simply learning more? Contact Ben Beaman at
bbeaman@pheasantsforever.org or visit
www.michiganpheasantsforever.org.