Saint Paul, Minn. -

The 621 Pheasants Forever chapters, 103 Quail Forever chapters and 125,000 members of "The Habitat Organization" nationwide completed over 22,000 wildlife habitat projects in 2009, benefitting over 500,000 acres for pheasants, quail and other wildlife. This includes over 8,300 acres of land acquired and then opened to public hunting and recreation as state-managed wildlife areas or federal Waterfowl Production Areas.

Pheasants Forever spent over $34.7 million on program expenses last year, including $4.9 on land acquisitions. In fact, since Pheasants Forever formed in 1982, the organization has spent $50 million on land acquisitions, opening 144,000 acres to public hunting and outdoor recreation. And in 2009, 9,942 youngsters took part in local Pheasants Forever mentored youth hunts that introduce them to hunting and wildlife habitat conservation.

"The past year was another testament to the ability of Pheasants Forever's local approach to wildlife habitat conservation," said Howard Vincent, Pheasants Forever National President and CEO. Pheasants Forever and its quail division, Quail Forever, empower county and local chapters with the responsibility to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds will be spent - the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure. "A half million acres is great, but we know with our model, we have the ability to do even more habitat projects on more acres and accomplish more for our favorite upland birds."

Pheasants Forever's 2009 Nationwide Wildlife Habitat Work

                                                                  Historical            Total Acres
                                                                  Project Totals       Benefitted
Project Type         2009 Projects    2009 Acres   (Since 1982)      (Since 1982)   
Nesting Cover            5,757           93,492         120,775           2,219,038
Land Acquisition             64             8,376            1,193              144,973
Wetland Restoration     140             1,385            3,158                63,093
Winter Cover             3,042             1,403          45,242              112,244
Food & Cover Plots   11,646           71,348        204,603            1,336,239
Habitat Maintenance  1,807          332,315          34,888            1,989,495
TOTALS                  22,456          508,319        409,860            5,865,083

Since 1982, Pheasants Forever has raised and spent over $365 million, which has helped benefit wildlife on over 5.8 million acres and provided for 68,000 youth to take part in youth mentored hunting and youth conservation education events.

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