Holly Green
Outreach & Communications Coordinator
1316 West 20th Street
Kearney , NE 68845
hgreen@pheasantsforever.org
402-975-5698
For Immediate Release
Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever Receives Grants from Nebraska Environmental Trust
Kearney, NE – July 9th, 2020 – Pheasants Forever announces that it will receive $1.2 Million from the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET) for the following programs: Corners for Wildlife (CFW), Pathway for Wildlife and Working Lands (PFW), Grassland Improvement Program, and the Mobile Prescribed Burn Unit & Education Outreach partnership. The Nebraska Environmental Trust Board announced funding for the programs at its meeting held on June 11th, 2020. The NET awarded $20,000,000 for 118 projects this year. Of these, 73 were new applications and 45 are carry-over projects.
The Mobile Prescribed Burn Unit and Education Outreach grant will help to provide prescribed fire equipment, public education, and training throughout the state. Wildlife partnership and management plans call for the increased use of prescribed burns and education regarding conservation programs to reach management and partnership goals. This grant funding will continue to foster the partnership with landowners implementing their goals. Funds provided allow for Mobile Prescribed Burn Unit equipment to be maintained, develop prescribed burn associations, and create public educational events and materials. This grant also provides funding for landowner habitat tours and prescribed fire training workshops. A variety of topics will be covered at these events. Since 2008, Pheasants Forever has held over 600 workshops for over 16,000 wildlife enthusiasts.
The Corners for Wildlife program continues to be a successful program and celebrates its 24th year of partnership between the Trust, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever, Natural Resource Districts, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and landowners throughout the state to establish permanent wildlife habitat. This partnership has established over 12,000 acres of habitat on private lands. Through CFW, landowners receive an annual payment for a five-year contract to establish and maintain high diversity wildlife habitat on center pivot irrigation field corners and establishment cost share includes high quality nesting, brood-rearing and pollinator habitat for wildlife.
The Pathway for and Wildlife and Working Lands program is designed to bridge the gaps between working lands and wildlife. PFW offers incentives to enhance wildlife habitat on cropland and working lands. PFW includes options for habitat establishment with annual contract payments and cost-share assistance on practices such as brush removal, smooth brome control, and prescribed fire.
The Grassland Improvement Program was started in 2007 for the purposes of restoring native grasslands and increasing quality grazing. The program emphasizes deferred and rotational grazing and deferred haying with implemented prescribed fire on the property. Landowners can also use this program to remove Eastern Red Cedars, repair erosion cuts and gullies, and increase wildlife and pollinator habitats. Since its inception, GIP has worked with 217 landowners on over 40,000 acres.
These grants are made possible through a combination of partnerships between Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, United States Department of Agriculture, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Districts, and the Nebraska Environmental Trust. More information on these programs and events are available at www.NebraskaPF.com.
The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Environmental Trust in 1992. Using revenue from the Nebraska Lottery, the Trust has provided over $328 million in grants to over 2,300 projects across the state. Anyone – citizens, organizations, communities, farmers and businesses – can apply for funding to protect habitat, improve water quality and establish recycling programs in Nebraska. The Nebraska Environmental Trust works to preserve, protect, and restore our natural resources for future generations. Learn more about the Nebraska Environmental Trust by visiting https://environmentaltrust.nebraska.gov/.
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 138,000 members and 760 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Since creation in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent over $900 million on 550,000 habitat projects benefiting 19 million acres nationwide. In Nebraska, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever has 62 chapters and ranks third in memberships nationally. Since 1986, Nebraska has impacted 6 Million Acres, spent more than $81.8 million, and worked on 128,179 projects with its landowners and partners across the state.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.
