BAWA: Jim Wooley Family Tract
Pheasants Forever and the Iowa Natural Heritage foundation are excited to announce a new Build a Wildlife Area® project in central Iowa! Located in Madison and Clarke counties, the 422-acre “Wooley Tract” honors the conservation legacy of Jim Wooley, who retired in 2016 after a 31-year career with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.
Build a Wildlife Area Program — Jim Wooley Family Tract of Heritage Hills Wildlife Management Area
Pheasants Forever and the Iowa Natural Heritage foundation are excited to announce a new Build a Wildlife Area® project in central Iowa! Located in Madison and Clarke counties, the 422-acre “Wooley Tract” honors the conservation legacy of Jim Wooley, who retired in 2016 after a 31-year career with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. The tract shares a boundary with the 1,021 Heritage Hills Wildlife Management Area and is a mosaic of grassland with remnant prairie species, hay ground, oak / hickory woodland, and riparian habitat spread across rolling hills. This incredible property will provide quality habitat for ringneck pheasants, bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and a wide variety of other wildlife that depend on these native ecosystems.
Fast Facts
422 acres of woodland and grassland, including 180 acres of woodland and 160 acres of grassland.
The site is adjacent to the Heritage Hills WMA, creating a larger tract of habitat and recreation space
This site has been conveyed to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is open to the public!
This project was secured through a unique partnership between Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever's Build a Wildlife Area program and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Thanks to the incredible support of chapters, donors, and partners this project has been successfully conveyed to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for perpetual stewardship.
Jim Wooley Biography
For more than three decades, Jim Wooley provided selfless and dynamic leadership to make Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever the outstanding organization it is today.
His influence on wildlife habitat conservation spans throughout the Midwest thanks to innovative programs, research, and ideas that he has contributed to. The conservation community owes a debt of gratitude for Jim's 31 years of service, and we're thrilled that it was spent with the Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever family.
In 1985, Pheasants Forever hired Wooley as the organization's first regional biologist after working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as the state upland game biologist. A well-known player with the upper Midwest conservation community, he:
was responsible for starting more than 125 local chapters of Pheasants Forever in 6 states
has been the lead for many key partnership efforts in the state of Iowa
managed the organization's successful seed program
played a vital leadership role in the inception and early development of Quail Forever
served as a vital committee member of several southern Iowa chapters of Pheasants Forever — most notably, the Southern Prairie and Warren County chapters
Wooley's successful career in the natural resources field was highlighted by many great partnerships, perhaps none greater than the Iowa Conservation Buffers Partnership from 1999 - 2003. During this four-year period, Wooley inspired support from local Pheasants Forever chapters, Iowa Soil & Water Conservation Districts, Iowa Natural Resource Conservation Service, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, and others to implement 215,578 acres of Continuous CRP buffers in 85% of Iowa counties.
The partnership used as a model of part-time technical employees to advocate for buffers through personal contact with interested landowners. This highly successful partnership changed the face of Iowa's landscape and became the future model for Pheasant Forever's farm bill biologist program — which now employs hundreds of biologists throughout the country.
In 2024 alone, our farm bill biologists worked with 34,648 landowners, leading to more than 1.7 million acres of habitat improvement for wildlife.
Build a Wildlife Area Week
Keep an eye out for opportunities to engage with our program throughout the year as we build momentum towards Build a Wildlife Area Week September 21-25, 2026!
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