Chapter News Update - March 2024

The 2024 BCPF Annual Banquet will be March 23, 2024, held at the Sleepy Eye Event Center. We hope you can attend and support us. All the money raised will be put to good use in Brown County. Some of these efforts are to support the high school trap teams; improve the WMAs with food plots; plantings; parking areas and signage.

Several changes will be taking place at the event regarding games and raffles to better comply with the MN Gambling Boards Rules. We hope you can attend and help us raise critical funds, which we use for habitat work in the county. Although some of the changes may seem inconvenient or unnecessary, we hope you understand why we must make changes to certain games or raffles to meet their requirements.

Some of these are:

No discounted Rooster Bucks can be used for a fund-raising activity.
People under 18 are not allowed to gamble.
Credit cards are not allowed for gambling purposes. We can take them for auctions and ticketing to the event.
And many more little ones you will see at the event.

Tickets can be purchased now for the event at: https://pfqf.myeventscenter.com/event/2024-33rd-Brown-County-Pheasants-Forever-Banquet-87735 .

Tickets purchased at the door on the day of the event will be at an increased “premium” price of $100 vs. $75 for pre-pay. Save money and make it easier for us to play by purchasing your tickets prior to the event date. On-line ticket sales ends Thursday, March 21 at 6:00 pm.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW.

We have many great prizes and over 30 guns being auctioned/raffled off. We have been posting many of the items that will be part of the Live Auction on our Facebook page. See ... Facebook - Brown County Pheasants Forever .

Our emcee and masters of ceremony for the event will be Bob St. Pierre, Chief Marketing Officer of Pheasants Forever. He will bring a lot of fun and energy to the banquet and is a great guy who has hunted and supports Brown County in many ways.

Landowners there are several active programs you should be aware of:

New - General CRP (Conservation Reserve Program). Sign-ups are currently on-going.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency has announced a new general signup period for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) running from March 4-29, 2024. The announcement
came during the 2024 National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the nation’s largest gathering of upland hunters and conservationists. 

“The USDA has a long track record of fostering and supporting the vital relationship between agriculture and conservation, and the Conservation Reserve Program helps our producers be good stewards of their lands and boost wildlife populations at the same time,” said USDA Under Secretary Robert Bonnie. “These efforts demonstrate the power of USDA’s Farm Bill conservation programs to conserve wildlife habitat, protect clean water and address climate change in partnership with farmers, ranchers, forest owners and conservation organizations, like
Pheasants Forever, across the country.”

Continuous CRP (Conservation Reserve Program).  Sign-ups are currently on-going.

In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and to plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. The program’s long-term goal is to re-establish valuable land cover to improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10-15 years in length.

Under continuous CRP signup, environmentally sensitive land devoted to certain conservation practices can be enrolled in CRP. Offers for continuous enrollment are not subject to competitive bidding during specific periods. To submit an offer, producers should contact the FSA at their local USDA Service Center by July 31, 2024, in order to have an offer effective by Oct. 1, 2024.

They are automatically accepted provided the land and producer meet certain eligibility requirements and the enrollment levels do not exceed the statutory cap. FSA will accept offers from producers on a first-come, first-served basis and will return offers for approval in batches throughout the year.

For more information, including a list of acceptable practices, contact your USDA Service Center at visit fsa.usda.gov/crp.

Adopt-a-WMA Program

If you have hunted or driven by the Bashaw Wildlife Management Area (WMA,) you might have noticed the new signs we have erected. They are informative and descriptive to the WMA. We have been trying now for 3+ years to get something like this as the standard for all WMAs. This is part of ongoing improvements we are doing as part of the Adopt-a-WMA program with the MN DNR.

We hope you can join us for next spring on Earth Day as we will again get out and do some specific work like planting shrubs, cleaning up garbage, replacing signs or removing fencing on a few WMAs. Mark your calendars now and save the date for this on Saturday April 20th, 2024. Other dates are in the planning stages as we speak to help get many improvements prior to the MN Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener.

Save the date for this on Saturday April 20th, 2024.

The monies we receive through donations, fund raising, and membership are critical to us enhancing or purchasing lands for all the public to enjoy. We encourage everyone to renew their membership to Pheasants Forever or upgrade to a Lifetime membership.

Pheasants Forever is the only national organization with a model of chapters keeping 100% of the funds they raise. While belonging to a larger national organization that has a voice on federal and state conservation policies, chapters are tasked with finding projects for their funds. Minnesota takes full advantage of this model using funds raised for projects locally as well as other areas in the state of Minnesota.

Go to https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Participate/Why-Participate.aspx

andhttps://www.pheasantsforever.org/getdoc/91f8dfad-47ad-46d6-af54-5649db42671f/Membership.aspx help us grow!

BROWN COUNTY PHEASANT’S FOREVER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
FOUNDED 37 YEARS AGO and SPENT OVER $4 MILLION in Brown County for HABITAT.
OVER 500 HABITAT PROJECTS benefiting OVER 5,000 ACRES on PRIVATE land.
PRESERVED OVER 3,000 ACRES for PUBLIC ENJOYMENT & HUNTING. Brown County has OVER 35 WMA/WPAs encompassing OVER 4,800 ACRES.
PARTICIPATED in OVER 3,000 ACRES in Brown County land ACQUISITIONS that are now WMA/WPAs.
BROWN COUNTY HAS OVER 24,000 acres in HABITAT.
HOSTS AND PARTICIPATES IN ANNUAL MENTORED YOUTH HUNTS with more than 200 KIDS PARTICIPATING
SUPPORT our LOCAL TRAP SHOOTING TEAMS.
PARTICIPATE in MN DNR Adopt-a-WMA program. Planting food plots, replacing signs, removing trash & barb wire, creating parking areas, and more.