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Aberdeen’s Kessler Named to Pheasants Forever Nat’l Board of Directors
Aberdeen businessman served for 17 years on SD Game, Fish & Parks Commission.

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. –-(Ammoland.com)- Pheasants Forever, Inc. and Quail Forever announce Tim Kessler of Aberdeen, South Dakota, as the newest member to the organization’s National Board of Directors. The 18-member board meets quarterly and oversees the operations of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.

A lifelong resident of Aberdeen, Kessler served for 17 years (1992-2010) on the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission, retiring this May. South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds said Kessler “served with honor and has always come down in favor of what’s best for the state’s natural resources.”

A third-generation owner of Kessler’s grocery, one of the largest food and drug stores in the Dakotas, Kessler also owns Big Shot Pheasant Fields near Aberdeen.

Kessler has long been fond of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s wildlife habitat conservation mission, “During my time on the Commission, we teamed up many, many times with local Pheasants Forever chapters,” he said. He’s also taken best habitat practices to heart for his own property.

“It’s been extremely gratifying for me to take a marginal piece of property and develop the habitat into quality nesting, brood, food and winter cover – the perfect combination for pheasants,” he said. Kessler looks forward to serving and contributing to “The Habitat Organization’s” Board of Directors.

“To be an integral part of managing what I’ve always had such a passion for – pheasants and pheasant hunting – this is a truly rare opportunity.”

All members of the National Board are volunteers offering their expertise, time, and effort on behalf of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.

“Speaking on behalf of the entire National Board of Directors, we are excited about the passion for conservation and the volunteer spirit Tim Kessler brings,” said Bruce Hertzke, Chairman of the Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever National Board of Directors, “Tim brings a wealth of wildlife and business experience that will help us achieve our habitat mission.”

Kessler started sacking groceries when he was 12-years-old, and purchased the 71-year-old family business from his father in the late 1980s. He graduated from Northern State University in Aberdeen. He and his wife of 35 years, Amy, have three grown children.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.

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CRP General Sign-Up this August is Good News for Habitat & Hunters
CRP general sign-up will run Aug. 2-Aug. 27.

Pheasants Forever

Saint Paul, Minn. –-(Ammoland.com)- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that the new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up will run Monday, August 2nd through Friday, August 27th.

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologists are prepared to work with landowners through the entire sign-up period.

The new general CRP signup will be the first since 2006, and landowner demand is expected to be strong, especially considering the USDA has updated soil rental rates since that last general signup.

“CRP continues to be a good option for producers to ensure income on the tough-to-farm and lowest producing acres,” said Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Vice President of Government Affairs, “This general signup’s 4 million-plus acre nationwide allotment is likely to fill up quickly, so it’s critical that landowners get into their local USDA service centers immediately to examine CRP options on their land.”

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 60 Farm Bill Biologists working at USDA service centers to provide one-on-one assistance to farmers and ranchers during the 2010 general sign-up.

The new CRP general sign-up arrives in time to address the 4.4 million acres of CRP expiring on September 30, 2010. It is also representative of USDA’s ongoing action to maximize the wildlife habitat and environmental benefits created via the program’s 25-year history. This February at Pheasants Forever’s National Pheasant Fest, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced his pledge to keep CRP fully enrolled at the federally mandated (via the 2008 Farm Bill) maximum level of 32 million acres. With an additional 14.2 million acres of CRP slated to expire between 2011 and 2013, the new general sign-up is the critical first step, said Nomsen.

Today’s announcement also resonates with pheasant hunters, as CRP acres provide the top nationwide habitat component in producing pheasants. Just three years removed from record-setting pheasant harvests (Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota); hunters have been disappointed in the 6.5 million acres that left the Conservation Reserve Program without a general signup. America’s quail populations continue their rapid decline because of habitat losses.

“This new general signup is critical to prevent us from losing more acres and for preventing continued population decline of the birds many of us love to pursue each autumn,” Nomsen added.

Nomsen also points out how understated CRP is to the rural environment and the rural economy. “For 25 years, CRP has been the nation’s single most important and successful conservation program, protecting water quality and soils, and creating habitat for a diverse mix of wildlife,” he said, “It’s a program critically important to the economy of rural America and our nation’s outdoor traditions. CRP in the next 25 years will continue all of these benefits, while also producing the habitat critical to pollinators and the $19 billion dollars honey bee pollination means to America’s agricultural economy.”

Since its formation in 1985, Pheasants Forever has been one of the nation’s strongest supporters of CRP. A voluntary program for agricultural landowners, CRP provides annual rental payments and cost-share assistance for the establishment of long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland. The millions of acres of CRP lands in the United States protect topsoil erosion, improve water and air quality and is a major contributor to increasing wildlife populations – including pheasants and quail – in many parts of the country.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.

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