Thanks to declining pheasant habitat and CRP land losses, hunters could face more challenging conditions during the 2009 season. Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

In 2008, in Douglas County, a new 1,000-acre wildlife management area was dedicated to honor the 41-year career of Saint Paul's Roger Holmes, who retired in 2000 after spending a decade as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' director of the Fish and Wildlife Division and 18 years as the chief of the Wildlife Section. Minnesota's "Build a Wildlife Area" campaign played a critical role in the acquisition of the new WMA.

Holmes was instrumental in the passage of the Minnesota Pheasant Habitat Stamp -- Pheasants Forever's first-ever goal. In the 1960s, Holmes worked as a game manager for the MDNR in Douglas County, where he helped establish 22 wildlife areas. With the help of Minnesota's Build a Wildlife Area campaign, the Roger M. Holmes WMA in northeastern Douglas County -- about 10 miles north of Alexandria -- bears his name and memorializes his life's work.

After deducting contributions from outside organizations and funding matches from the "Reinvest in Minnesota" program (which uses funds from conservation license plate sales to preserve habitat), the MDNR paid a balance of about $1.28 million for the 1,036 acres, with additional funding coming from the Build a Wildlife Area campaign, eight Pheasants Forever chapters, the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, and the efforts of local groups such as the Vikingland Sportsmen's Club of Alexandria. The land features grasslands, wetlands and timber that provide habitat for pheasants, wild turkeys and waterfowl.

According to Anthony Hauck, the Pheasants Forever Public Relations Specialist, through the unique Build a Wildlife Area partnership, every dollar raised is tripled with matching grants from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and other partners. In other words, for every $100 donated, the campaign actually raised $300. Also, there are no administrative costs built into the Build a Wildlife Area campaign, which means 100 percent of the donations go directly into land acquisitions.

"It's very important now that we continue seeking land for hunting opportunities as the acreage enrolled in CRP disappears," said Hauck. "Let's face it. Finding places to hunt is always a big challenge, so anytime pieces of land become available and you have an opportunity to pounce on them with other partners onboard with funding, our chapters are happy to do it. Our chapters do a lot of things, but land acquisition is the primary focus." CRP Woes

Kurt Haroldson is the MDNR wildlife biologist with the Farmland Wildlife Populations & Research Group. He says the 2008 Farm Bill reduced the national cap for how many acres of CRP you could have in the country, and we have to achieve that goal by 2010.

"I think we're going to see a continued decline through 2010 until we get to this new lower cap," said Haroldson, "and then, hopefully, CRP rental rates and crop prices will be fairly stable and close to each other, and that will mean less incentive to farm wetlands and slopes and environmentally sensitive land that should be in CRP. We never like to see the CRP move backward, which is what is happening right now."