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Pheasants Forever and partners have acquired 160 acres in western Minnesota as an addition to the Lac qui Parle Wildlife Management Area. Spearheaded by the Lac qui Parle County Chapter of Pheasants Forever and supported by grant funding from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, the new parcel features 56 acres of native prairie, numerous rare and threatened wildlife species, and will provide further public hunting opportunities in the state’s primary pheasant range.
 
“We’re proud to be part of this project, it really is a fantastic addition to the existing Lac qui Parle WMA complex,” stated Mark Olson, president of the Lac qui Parle Chapter of Pheasants Forever. “With the support of our local community, the chapter has been able to leverage significant state and federal resources to provide a winning recipe for habitat delivery in western Minnesota.”
 
This project, combined with the numerous other acquisition efforts of Pheasants Forever has helped “The Habitat Organization” permanently protect 4,227 acres in Minnesota over the course of 2016, all of which will be open to public hunting and recreation. “We would not be able to strategically protect lands at this level if it wasn’t for the support of Minnesota citizens and the Outdoor Heritage Fund,” stated Eran Sandquist, state coordinator for Pheasants Forever in Minnesota. 
 
Since forming in 1986, the Lac qui Parle County Chapter of Pheasants Forever and its members have played a pivotal role for conserving habitat and upland wildlife in western Minnesota. In this time, the chapter has invested more than $3.7 million through locally raised finances and state matching funds to positively impact the mission of Pheasants Forever in Lac qui Parle County. In total, the chapter has impacted 1,845 acres of habitat – public and private lands included – with projects and land acquisitions aimed at conserving wildlife habitat, reducing soil erosion, and improving water quality for their community. “It is great that Pheasants Forever is doing its part to conserve these resources for future generations,” added Olson.  
 
About Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund

Thirty-three percent of the sales tax revenue from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment is distributed to the Outdoor Heritage Fund. Those funds "may be spent only to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forest and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife." Pheasants Forever, along with many other non-profit and conservation-minded organizations in Minnesota, have partnered on an annual basis to accelerate its land protection efforts.
 
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 over 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 $708 million on 517,464 habitat projects benefiting 15.81 million acres nationwide.

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