Anderson: 40 years ago, Pheasants Forever rose to a titan of conservation
WILLMAR, Minn. — The other night on a deck overlooking Eagle Lake near this west-central Minnesota town, a bunch of us who had gathered nearly on the same spot some 40 years ago got together. There were a few more gray hairs this time. But among those in attendance, a kennel or two of bird dogs could still be accounted for. So not all youthful enthusiasm had been lost.
The occasion was the ruby anniversary of Pheasants Forever (PF), a group founded on Aug. 5, 1982, through my column when I was scribbling for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
I had challenged readers to disregard the mistaken notion that Minnesota's farmlands need to be forever devoid of pheasants or songbirds or other ground-nesting wildlife. In response, by snail mail — the only kind there was at the time — some people sent cash, while others promised to help in any way they could.
The result was that on April 15, 1983, more than 800 people gathered at the old Prom Ballroom in St. Paul to raise about $25,000 for the fledgling bird club. Gov. Rudy Perpich spoke and used the occasion to sign Minnesota's first pheasant stamp into law. Others in attendance included a who's-who of sportsmen and sportswomen, Department of Natural Resources leaders and politicians.
With the money raised, PF's founding board of directors hired Jeff Finden as PF's first executive director. His job was to expand the group beyond the Twin Cities into Minnesota's hinterlands.
This happened first in Kandiyohi County, home of a fellow named Doug Lovander. Like many other conservationists throughout Minnesota's pheasant range, Doug had contacted me saying he wanted to start a Willmar-area PF chapter.
In an attempt to gauge Doug's degree of interest in undertaking the challenging task of organizing a fundraising banquet, I called Doug to inquire, essentially, about his bird-hunting credentials.
"Do you hunt pheasants a lot?'' I asked.
When Doug said, "I conduct my own August roadside counts,'' I figured he was the guy for the job.
So it was the other night when I joined Doug and a couple handfuls of other Willmar-area residents who put together that first Kandiyohi County PF banquet on April 27, 1983, I did so with fond memories.
The reunion was intended not only to recall that first banquet in Willmar, raising some $25,000, but, as importantly, to recall and celebrate the subsequent negotiations that produced the income-sharing strategy that still today makes PF unique among conservation groups.
