In addition to Pheasants Forever Inc. (USA) and Pheasants Forever Canada, Pheasants Forever Calgary has aligned itself with a long list of like-minded partners, spanning industry and conservation organizations, corporations, private foundations, individuals and various government agencies.
Their valuable funding contributions, in-kind and technical assistance enables the chapter to continually increase the amount of influenced habitat acres for the benefit of wildlife. This strategy allows all partners to achieve environmental milestones far greater than what any one organization could accomplish alone.
The Habitat Legacy Partnership
In 2008, Alberta Conservation Association (ACA) and Pheasants Forever formed a partnership called the Habitat Legacy Partnership (HLP) aimed at improving pheasant habitat in southern Alberta. As part of this partnership, ACA and PF have identified a number of focal landscapes. One of the most recent and notable projects under this partnership is the Milk River Ridge Reservoir Water Quality Stewardship Initiative.
To initiate habitat work, ACA biologists meet with landowners and land managers within the targeted landscapes to develop and implement habitat plans. In many cases, a number of other partners are engaged.
The long-term goals of this project are to:
- Increase pheasant populations through habitat enhancement.
- Increase hunter access and hunter satisfaction within discrete areas of southern Alberta.
For more information visit ACA’s Habitat Legacy Partnership.
Partners in Habitat Development Program
The largest and most successful habitat initiative of the Pheasants Forever Calgary chapter was the Partners in Habitat Development program (PHD). Founded in 1998 by Pheasants Forever Calgary and the Eastern Irrigation District (EID) located in Brooks, the program helped to redevelop and enhance wildlife habitat throughout the cultivated regions of southern Alberta, primarily on private land. Six of the largest irrigation districts in southern Alberta participated in the program representing over 1.1 million acres of land. Over 300 landowners (on over 500 different project sites) have invited the PHD program to implement planting, fencing and irrigation canal rehabilitation projects on their land to help increase the quality and quantity of wildlife habitat. Between 1998 and 2009, the PHD program had positively influenced over 35,000 acres of upland wildlife habitat by planting over 735,000 trees and shrubs, seeded 800 acres to permanent grass cover, installed over 147 kilometers of fencing on 140 projects, installed 43 water deliveries to enhance or create 15 wetland basins.