By Lori EhdeBefore 1983, there were no public hunting grounds in Rock County and no wildlife habitat reserves. Not surprisingly, those were also the days before the Pheasants Forever chapter in Rock County.Since the chapter organized 20 years ago, the group has grown to include 200 members, acquired more than 900 acres of Pheasants Forever Land and now operates with a $10,000 budget.During their Oct. 11 banquet, Pheasants Forever members will observe their 20th anniversary with special engraved guns that will be raffled.They’ll also no doubt reflect on their early days as a chapter.According to one founding member, Clyde Menning, interest in forming a local Pheasants Forever group was inspired partly from disappointment with existing conservation groups at the time."The money we were raising here for Ducks Unlimited … nothing was being returned to Rock County," Menning said.After attending a Lyon County Pheasants Forever Banquet, Menning called the Pheasants Forever CEO Jeff Finden about starting a group in Rock County.Menning, Dean DeBooy and the late Harvey and Ramona Ball met with Finden in Country Kitchen one summer day in 1983 and decided to organize a chapter.Their first banquet in September 1984 attracted 100 members."We decided that this new Pheasants Forever group had more to offer than other conservation groups because all the money raised stayed local," Menning said.Further he said, it was an opportunity to develop wildlife habitat."That was the main purpose of starting the chapter," Menning said. "There was no public hunting ground in Rock County at the time. It was all about improving the environment."Habitat Chairman Chuck Van Wyhe said the group’s efforts have paid off, especially since the federal soil bank program was expiring in the mid-1980s, and many land owners were tilling habitat areas for row crops."Back then, the pheasant population was dwindling in Rock County," Van Wyhe said. "Those were some pretty lean years for pheasant hunting."While the intent of setting aside ground for Pheasants Forever is to boost pheasant populations, Van Wyhe said everyone benefits from improvements to ground, air and water quality."It benefits not only pheasants, but any type of wildlife that can utilize this ground we’re developing," he said."And it’s forever. It would take a legislative act to change it. Even if our group dissolves or if there’s a law someday banning hunting, the habitat will stay."As local Pheasants Forever land is acquired, the State of Minnesota makes payments to Rock County’s tax coffers in lieu of property taxes. The money is paid from a state trust fed primarily by sales of lottery tickets and conservation license plates."In most cases, the money to Rock County has been more than when the land wasn’t in Pheasants Forever," Van Wyhe said.Russ Blanford donationThis philosophy of improving local habitat appeals to non-Pheasants Forever members as well.When rural Luverne’s Russell Blanford died this summer, he bequeathed $80,000 to the local chapter to purchase 153 acres of prime river bottom land for public hunting."He left part of him that will be remembered by people and kids forever," Van Wyhe said. "He told us he was going to remember us in his will, but I was surprised when we got the donation."Blanford owned 300 acres of pastures, fields and river land, and he gave Pheasants Forever the money to buy part of the land — almost a quarter section — from his beneficiaries.The land is located south of I-90. To get there, travelers on Highway 75 from Luverne would turn east on County Road 16 (a blacktop) just south of Schoneman Park, for one-half mile, and then travel one mile north toward I-90.Rock County’s Pheasant’s Forever chapter was able to expand the Blanford’s donation to $208,000 through a $104,000 matching grant from the Minnesota Critical Habitat License Plate fund and through $24,000 from the Rock County Chapters of Pheasants Forever and the National Wild Turkey Federation.The land will be managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and will likely be open for public hunting in 2004.Rock County Pheasants Forever chairmen since 1983 include Clyde Menning, Lonnie Van Klei, Steve Heitkamp, Ivan Kooiker and current chair, Jeff Wienke.Corporate sponsors Country Kitchen, Hardwick State Bank, Exchange State Bank in Hills and Tony Bosch of Jubilee Foods have supported the group from its beginning. There are a total of 37 corporate sponsors currently supporting Rock County Pheasants Forever.
