Anoka, Minn. – August 4, 2016 – Pheasants Forever,
Outdoor News,
Minnesota DNR, and
Game Fair have announced a new
Build A Wildlife
Area campaign to create a public hunting area in southern Minnesota honoring the memory of famed outdoor writer, Gary Clancy. Fundraising efforts for the memorial acquisition – to be named the Gary Clancy Wildlife Management Area - will commence at Game Fair in Ramsey, Minn. on August 12th.Pheasants Forever and its partners are asking the outdoor community for their support in this effort.
A Vietnam veteran, Clancy served in the U.S. Army before returning home to Minnesota where he eventually embarked on an outdoor writing career. He sold his first article to Fins and Feathers magazine in 1980 and became a regular columnist in Outdoor News in the 1990s. He wrote for numerous national outdoor publications, authored eight books about the outdoors, and met with hunters and anglers of all ages at seminars and book signings around the country. Clancy, age 68, passed away on July 27th at his home in High Forest, Minn., after a lengthy battle with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
The Gary Clancy Wildlife Management Area will be funded, in part, by contributions from the Build A Wildlife Area program. Through a unique 3:1 funding mechanism utilizing state, federal, and other grants, the Build A Wildlife Area program puts 100 percent of the funds donated directly toward land acquisitions. Since 2003, the Build A Wildlife Area program has helped create or expand Wildlife Management Areas and federal Waterfowl Production Areas in Minnesota, opening more than 5,500 acres of habitat to public hunting, birding, hiking, and trapping.
“Pheasants Forever and its partners have set a goal to raise $100,000 in the memory of Gary Clancy and we certainly encourage Minnesota hunters, anglers, and the outdoor community to contribute to the cause,” said Eran Sandquist, Pheasants Forever’s state coordinator in Minnesota. “Having left such a significant impact on the nation’s hunting and fishing community, the Gary Clancy Wildlife Management Area is just a small testament to one of Minnesota’s largest outdoor advocates."