Gov. Mark Dayton will convene a first-ever Minnesota pheasants summit in December.
Dayton announced his plan Thursday evening at a St. Paul Pheasants Forever chapter banquet. The gathering will include hunters, farmers, policymakers, conservationists, other stakeholders and members of the governor's cabinet, Dayton said.
The goal will be to develop ways to boost the state's pheasant population by improving upland habitat.
"For almost 60 years, I have enjoyed pheasant hunting in Minnesota," said Dayton. "But the decisions we make today will determine whether future generations of Minnesotans will have those same opportunities. I look forward to convening this Minnesota Pheasant Summit, and developing strategies to improve the pheasant population in our state."
Minnesota hunters are forecast to harvest an estimated 200,000 pheasants during this fall's season from a pheasant population that is higher by 6 percent from 2013.
Yet Minnesota pheasant numbers remain 58 percent below the 10-year average, and 71 percent below the long-term average.
Dayton launched the state's first-ever Governor's Pheasant Opener in Montevideo in 2011. Since then, he has hosted similar openers in Marshall and Madelia.
On October 10-11, he will host the fourth Governor's Pheasant Opener in Worthington.
Dayton's announcement follows a South Dakota pheasant summit held earlier this year that called for more money to be dedicated to conserving upland habitat.
Pheasant numbers throughout the nation's mid-section generally have declined in recent years, following the loss of Conservation Reserve Program acres. Farmers have pulled out of the set-aside program as commodity prices have increased, and corn and soybean plantings have spread into the Dakotas into previously undisturbed grasslands.
