18 states, including Minnesota, partner to assist pheasants

The first national effort to unite pheasant states into a partnership for improved and expanded ringneck habitat is up and flying with help from Minnesota and 17 other states.

In a quiet ceremony four months ago, the states hired pheasant biologist Scott Taylor to build momentum for the National Wild Pheasant Conservation Plan. Its goal is to restore and maintain self-sustaining wild pheasant populations in the 31 states from California to New York where the birds can be hunted.

The partnership, including nonprofit Pheasants Forever, will hit another milestone next month in Philadelphia when Taylor coordinates the first meeting of the group's management board. Minnesota will have a representative on the board, chaired by Tony Leif, director of the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department.

"We are early on in the partnership," Taylor said last week. "If we can get all the states working together …"

He said the idea is to build a cohesive campaign for influencing federal policy to alter land uses for the benefit of the environment and pheasants. Planting more grass not only creates more nesting, brood-rearing and winter cover for pheasants, it's also a solution to water pollution and soil erosion in farming regions.

A major focus for Taylor and the coalition is the next Farm Bill, a historically huge geopolitical force in the creation and destruction of pheasant habitat. Intensified farming has affected the birds since the 1940s with continual conversion of grass and scrubland to cropland — along with a loss of diversity in crops.

With the next Farm Bill docketed for 2018, Taylor said the "number one ask" from pheasant states will be for an expansion of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The program pays farmers to return cropland to grass in environmentally sensitive areas and was a boon to pheasants in its heyday when grain prices were low.

Other Farm Bill conservation programs will be targeted and pheasant states will learn together how to be more strategic with the limited acres they recover for pheasant habitat. Placement, types of plantings and ensuring set-aside acres are properly maintained will be points of emphasis.

The national pheasant plan estimates the habitat needed to maintain pheasant populations at given levels by region. The goals are set to recover from a major decline of grassland brought on by agriculture, exurban sprawl and reforestation. Some individual states, such as Minnesota, will continue with their own pheasant plans and the partnership will learn from any successes. On a federal level, the idea is to speak with one voice and aggregate the economic importance of pheasant hunting across the country.

"There is strength in unity," said Jim Leach, Fish and Wildlife Division director for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

He said the coalition expects to receive grass roots support well beyond the hunting community because any addition of grassland for pheasants will pay dividends of cleaner water, less soil erosion, improved flood control and renewed habitat for pollinators and other critters.

"The pheasant is iconic, but we're coming together to promote and advocate for conservation measures far beyond," Leach said.

Minnesota DNR wildlife research scientist Nicole Davros is a member of the national pheasant plan's technical committee, which also meets next month in Philadelphia.

Originally, the national pheasant plan was written by 23 states in 2012 without funding commitments. The plan said: "Without a dedicated coordinator, this important conservation plan … will struggle to gain momentum and will likely not spur successful results."

To hire Taylor in April, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and 13 other states collectively chipped in $90,000 per year for three years. The money applies to Taylor's travel expenses and annual salary of $70,000. Pheasants Forever, where Taylor works in Brookings, S.D., covers his benefits and additional travel. But 100 percent of Taylor's work hours are committed to the national pheasant plan, he said.

The states and Pheasants Forever will decide in three years whether to extend the position.

The whole idea was borrowed from a multistate partnership that advocated successfully for a resurgence of habitat for bobwhite quail. Taylor spent much of last week in Nebraska at a bobwhite conference.