Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever is proud to join
onX in announcing a new collaboration focused on opening public access throughout America’s pheasant and quail ranges. The organization will engage its member base, the nation’s largest collection of upland hunters, to submit access opportunities to onX’s Report A Land Access Opportunity project. Likewise, in support of “The Habitat Organization’s” successful Build a Wildlife Area campaign, onX is making a financial contribution to the effort that’s been responsible for adding 13,038 acres of permanent public land across seven states since 2005.
The
Report a Land Access Opportunity project challenges upland hunters to share their on-the-ground knowledge about the barriers and opportunities to improve access to public lands and waters. In the mainstay of America’s pheasant and quail ranges where a large percentage of property is under private ownership, the desire for improved public hunting access is even more pronounced among the wingshooting community. Utilizing the
onX Hunt App, users can submit reports about:
- Properties currently for sale that could secure a new public access route to public lands
- Public land parcels that have no legal access routes
- Gates or roadblocks restricting travel to public lands
- Public waters that are difficult or impossible to reach
- Places where the public is trespassing when trying to reach public land
After a thorough vetting process between onX and Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever, the partners will plan a strategy for transforming the projects which could have the greatest impacts for access among sportsmen and women.
“One thing we’ve noted over many years of access work is that there is a mountain of work to do to secure access to many beautiful places and public lands, to open new recreation opportunities near cities and, surprisingly, to secure access to places we already enjoy,” noted onX Founder Eric Siegfried. “We believe the only scalable way to do all this work is to empower people within their community to have a voice and to take action. The Report a Land Access Opportunity project is a small step to achieving this vision, and all of us at onX are excited to see what we can do next with our incredible access partners and you.”
Taking public access one step further, onX has committed $15K to Pheasants Forever’s
Build A Wildlife Area initiative, aimed at acquiring and restoring critical wildlife habitat for public recreation. OnX’s contribution will be matched at a minimum of $3:$1 to acquire a brand new 281-acre public area located in Tama County, Iowa:
- The new Iowa River Wildlife Area will be open to walk-in hunting and fishing in a state and region with marginal public access.
- Opportunities for future work along the corridor exist to build a complex of habitat and access.
- The property is currently owned by Pheasants Forever and is being transitioned over to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
- This public access project was made possible by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Pittman-Robertson Act funding, Marshall/Tama Chapter of Pheasants Forever, onX, individual donors, and 17 Pheasants Forever chapters in Iowa who have contributed to BAWA in 2020.
“The Build a Wildlife Area campaign is the most straightforward, guaranteed avenue for the average upland hunter to put their money directly into creating more public access. And most importantly, through our partnerships and grants, we match an individual’s investment in public lands exponentially,” explained Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s President & CEO Howard Vincent.
Interested in helping make an impact for hunter access? Start today by using the
#1 GPS Hunting App, onX. The best tool for every hunter, the onX Hunt App shows clearly marked property boundaries, public and private landowner names and more. Use the code
PHEASANTS or
QUAIL on the
onX website and save 20%!
You can help onX, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever build the next wildlife area by contributing today at
https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Habitat/Build-a-Wildlife-Area.aspx
About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division,
Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 138,000 members and 760 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Since creation in 1982, Pheasants Forever has spent over $900 million on 550,000 habitat projects benefiting 19 million acres nationwide. In fact, more than 200,000 of those acres are now permanently protected as public lands. #PublicLandCreator
Media Contact
Jared Wiklund
(651) 209-4953
jwiklund@pheasantsforever.org