Longtime conservation advocate and former Pheasants Forever staffer, Joe Duggan, was honored yesterday evening at a dedication for new public hunting areas in southwest Minnesota. As part of the ceremony, representatives from Jackson County Pheasants Forever, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service unveiled memorials for the Joe Duggan Family Waterfowl Production Area and Wildlife Management Area.
“These acquisitions are honoring the family legacy of Joe Duggan, one of Pheasants Forever’s most recognizable faces and a longtime supporter of wildlife habitat conservation efforts in the state of Minnesota,” explained Jeff Johnson, committee member for the Jackson County Chapter of Pheasants Forever.
The Joe Duggan Family Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) and Wildlife Management Area (WMA) total 293 acres and are strategic additions to the adjacent Sioux Valley WMA and Skunk Creek WPA in Jackson County. The tracts, consisting of 22 restorable wetland basins and high-diverse grasslands, form a major public lands complex located 16 miles southwest of Jackson that is now open for public hunting and other recreation.
“Joe Duggan has been a fire starter for wildlife conservation for decades and his impact in creating publicly accessible lands and quality habitat for all sportsmen and women will be felt forever,” expressed Howard Vincent, Pheasants Forever’s president and CEO.
The Joe Duggan Family WPA and WMA were made possible with contributions from Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund, North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Minnesota DNR, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jackson County PF, Buffalo Ridge PF, Carpenters for Conservation PF, Goodhue County PF, Heartland PF, Kanabec County PF, Lyon County PF, Martin County PF, McLeod County PF, Morrison County PF, Nicollet County PF, Nobles County PF, Pelican River PF, Pipestone County PF, Stearns County PF, Stevens County PF, Todd County PF, Tri-County PF, Washington County PF, Wright County PF, Mississippi Longtails PF, Dakota Ringnecks PF, Jager Outdoors, Larry Voth Family, Matt Valitchka, MN Division Izzak Walton League, Robert J. Beugen Family, MN Chapter of NWTF, Kirk Schnitker, In Memory of Phil Conklin from The Last Man’s Club, Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, Elizabeth Richmond, John Devney, Federal Ammunition, MDHA, In Memory of John Evangelist, Jeff Finden, Jeff and Martha Johnson and the Stan Gordon Family.
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 130,000 members and 740 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Since creation in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent $867 million on 540,000 habitat projects benefiting 18 million acres nationwide.
Media Contact
Jared Wiklund
(651) 209-4953
jwiklund@pheasantsforever.org