Nebraskaland

October 2026 • Nebraskaland 37 to the federal Soil Bank Program, which paid farmers to idle cropland, resulting in ideal pheasant habitat and the golden years of bird hunting. But in the decades that followed, land managers began to observe a steady decline in bird numbers, a trend that coincided with sweeping changes in agricultural land-use and farming practices. Populations rebounded following the introduction of the Conservation Reserve Program in 1985, but by the mid-1990s, as those grasslands aged or land was returned to production, pheasant numbers again began to decline. That has continued as enrollment in general CRP, what pheasant hunters know as prime habitat, has dropped from 1.3 million acres in 2007 to 321,000 acres today. In more recent years, woody encroachment and urban sprawl have also impacted the state's remaining grasslands. Unbeknownst to early conservationists, this once-exotic, colorful bird would become the poster child for upland conservation. A Changing Landscape "We call pheasants an 'umbrella species' because what's good for them is good for others," said Nebraska Game and Parks Wildlife Biologist Bryan O'Connor, explaining that good pheasant habitat also benefits native species such as bobwhite quail, songbirds, grouse, deer, turkey and pollinators. Upland conservation efforts reach far beyond one game bird, he said, but it's been an uphill struggle. Advancements in agricultural technology post-World Wa r I I , su c h a s ge n e t i ca l l y m o d i f i e d c ro p s, m o d e r n herbicides and the invention of center-pivot irrigation, dramatically increased productivity and transformed the rural landscape. Those changes accelerated in the 1970s under Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, whose "Get Big or Get Out" philosophy encouraged farmers to abandon small-scale farming to maximize yield through large-scale monoculture. A patchwork of small crop and hay fields and pastures, and the fencelines separating them, was replaced with huge expanses of corn and soybeans. Furthermore, the encroachment of woody plants also poses a grave and immediate threat to our state's remaining grasslands. The rapid expansion of eastern red cedar has engulfed large areas of prairie and ranchland in short order, deteriorating grassland ecosystems and displacing the grasses and wildflowers grazed by wildlife and livestock. Berggren Pheasant Plan By the 1980s, the alarm bell had been rung, spurring the creation of Pheasants Forever, Inc. in Saint Paul, Minnesota, by a group of concerned hunters and conservationists. A new kind of conservation organization had been born, one with a unique local chapter model that would raise money and decide how funds would be spent in their communities, shared PF Nebraska Senior State Coordinator Kelsi Wehrman. This grassroots model spread to Nebraska in 1986 with the formation of the Elkhorn Valley PF Chapter. Rightfully n i c k n a m e d " T h e Ha b i ta t O rga n i z a t i o n , " P h e a s a n t s Forever began working with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in the early 1990s to develop programs that would restore pheasant habitat and increase hunting opportunities — a partnership that continues today. Then in 2016, Game and Parks' new Berggren Pheasant Plan expanded existing Focus on Pheasants conservation initiatives on a statewide level. Its second iteration in 2022 also changed how the agency would communicate with the public about pheasant hunting opportunities and included an R3 (Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation) component to help increase hunter participation. Research was another part of the Berggren Pheasant Plan. In cooperation with the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, researchers are helping to prioritize future habitat restoration efforts by increasing their cost-effectiveness and maximizing benefits to pheasants and other wildlife. Since 2016, 141,250 acres, both public and private, have been impacted through the plan. Still — you would be hard pressed to find a farm bill biologist who would feign blind optimism. "When you think about the things pheasants need to survive, there are so many things working against them," said John Laux, PF Habitat Protection Programs manager. "Once a welcomed by-product of early agricultural practices, our pheasant population now lives off the scraps of remaining habitat where it's tough to make a living." According to Laux, the solution is finding those "win-win" conservation actions that simultaneously benefit private landowners and wildlife.

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