Grant Recipients
2012 Grant Recipients
SportDOG Brand Conservation Fund® has awarded $21,000 to four conservation groups as part of our annual grant program, and another $1,000 for the Kids in Conservation grant. This year marked a record number of applications. We are excited to see this program grow. Each year has seen a record number of applicants for these grants. We believe it's important for us to continue giving something back to the conservation initiatives our team and our customers care about.
Grant recipients are chosen by the Conservation Fund Grant Review committee, and are based on which projects most align with SportDOG Brand's conservation goals. We're excited about being able to contribute to these types of projects that will benefit wildlife for generations to come.
In 2012, grants were awarded as follows:
1. Pheasants Forever Stutsman County North Dakota Native Grass Drill– Pheasants Forever will receive $5,000 for a no-till drill to be stationed in Jamestown, North Dakota for use on both public and private lands throughout Stutsman County. Currently, individuals looking to seed high-diversity grassland habitat in Stutsman County have to go outside their county, and often times out of state, to rent a drill or hire a private vendor to complete their habitat projects. With the current decline in Conservation Reserve Program acres, any new acre for wildlife is a win for conservation. This drill will help eliminate the battle of getting the proper equipment to get that new habitat in the ground. It will not only be beneficial to the people of Stutsman County, but sportsmen and women across the nation that hunt North Dakota..
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The purchase of a no-till drill will directly benefit wildlife by creating/enhancing habitat within the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota. The region is also known as the "duck factory" of North America because of all the waterfowl in the area. Not only does the region provide habitat for wildlife species, it is a common hunting destination for sportsmen and women across the country. Not only will this project help citizens realize their habitat goals it will also benefit all of us who travel to North Dakota to enjoy the natural resources and ample wildlife populations the state has to offer. At its peak, North Dakota had 3.7 million acres of wildlife habitat as a result of the Conservation Reserve Program. However, in recent years CRP acres and the wildlife habitats they provide are being lost. With high agricultural commodity prices and CRP rental rates unable to keep pace, there is no foreseeable end in sight to the loss of wildlife habitat. North Dakota stands to lose hundreds of acres of habitat through expiring CRP contracts.
Not all is doom and gloom for wildlife in North Dakota, however, with recent wet conditions the oppotunity to enroll cropland containing farmed wetlands and adjecent uplands into Continuous Conservation Reserve Program practices and create new habitat is better than ever. A majority of existing CRP in Stutsman County is low diversity grassland habitat. While this grassland habitat provides needed nesting for upland game birds and waterfowl, it is not high quality brooding habitat. Quality brooding habitat is essential to upland game birds such as Sharp-tailed Grouse and Ring-necked Pheasants. Brood habitat should have a high diversity of broad-leaved plants to attract insects, and provide overhead protection from predators. Currently, the equipment needed to plant high diversity habitats is unavailable or difficult for producers to access in the county to accomplish habitat goals. by having proper equipment available within the county, producers enrolling in Continuous CRP will be able to establish high quality habitat.
By purchasing this drill, Pheasants Forever hopes to establish 5,000 acres of new wildlife habitat annually through perenial grass cover or annual crops and to enhance 1,000 acres of existing wildlife habitat through inter-seeding to increase plant diversity.
Click here for less. – Delta Waterfowl will receive $5,000 to analyze over 10,000 known nests with known survival and location to document patterns of nest loss an or success. Masters Candidate Jason Stelzer will determine the effects of landscape features (proximity to roads, wetlands, tree rows, abandoned buildings, rock piles, etc) on nest survival. This large data set will provide detailed results to inform future habitat management.
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As hatching rates (nest success/nest survival) are the factor most limiting for duck production, understanding the patterns of nest loss is critical in deploying habitat management. Especially in light of the continued errosion of CRP nesting cover and native grasslands, understanding how landscape features positively or negatively affect hatching rates can aid managers in fashioning habitat programs with the best chance of success in increasing duck nest success.
The project will evaluate patterns of nest success on 12 study sites in Eastern/Northeastern North Dakota and the results will be transferable over a significant portion of the United States and Canadian Prairie Pothole Region.
Click here for less. The University of North Dakota will receive $5,000 to evaluate sharp-tail grouse nesting ecology, specifically nest predation issues, inside and outside of gas and oil development on sharp-tail grouse. Baseline data is needed on reproduction, cause-specific nest mortalities and nesting habitat to determine the impacts of gas and oil development on population dynamics of sharp-tail grouse. The Grassland Conservation Plan for Prairie Grouse has identified understanding impacts of this development on prairie grouse species as a research priority in order to better inform future management decisions for these important game birds. The broader implications of study findings should guide management efforts for prairie grouse species in the face of changing land uses and will help insure the persistance of the bird for future generations.
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Sharp-tailed grouse are an important and widely hunted upland game species in North Dakota. Historically, sharp-tailed grouse hunting has played an important role in recreational hunting opportunities in North Dakota. Furthermore, the Dakota Prairie Grasslands lists the sharp-tailed grouse as a management indicator species within the Grasslands Plan, and is therefore, a species of particular concern for the US Forest Service (USFS) in land-use planning within native grasslands of western North Dakota.
To accomplish this, Sharp-tailed Grouse will be monitored on three sites in western North Dakota to learn how gas and oil development is impacting nest survival and cause-specific nest mortality. Female sharp-tailed grouse will be marked with radio-tags so they can be monitored for nesting activity throughout the 2012 and 2013 breeding seasons. When females appear to be nesting (found in the same location on two consecutive days), visual searches will be conducted to confirm the presence of a nest. When the incubating bird is away from the nest, researchers will install a small 24-hour nest camera to monitor nesting activities and identify predations in the event of nest failure. Studies have found that without the use of nest cameras, it is very difficult to accurately identify predators. Camera placement will be approximately 1 m from the nest and camouflaged using surrounding vegetation to minimize any effects from researchers.
Videos will be reviewed to determine differences in nest predation rates among the sites and any potential differences in nesting behaviors observed as a result of the habitat features associated with gas and oil activities. Predictive models will be constructed to examine habitat features influencing the probability of nest survival and the predators responsible for nest failures to be used to inform future management of the species with respect to predation and energy development.
Click here for less.– Tate Ervin, with help from the MS Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, will lead a project to utilize prescribed and controlled burns to cultivate approximately 175 acres if land into adaquate quail habitat. Korean Lespedeza will also be planted in the area to provide a food source for quail and turkey as well as cover for quail.
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Controlled and prescribed burns will be utilized to prepare 145 acres of land for preparation of restoring the quail population in the area. These burns are designed to maintain early stages of plant succession as required by bobwhites. They will also reduce leaves and needles from the forrest floor, exposing soil so quail can easily find seeds.This encourages open foraging and travel areas for hens with young chicks as well as nurtures plants that provide food, in the form of insects and seeds, and cover for the quail. Patchy burns are best for quail populations so ring-arounds, circular areas plowed around and protected from burns, will be utilized in the winter season to provide safe nesting ground for the birds come April.
In addtion, roughly an acre of Korean Lespedeza will be planted in the spring/early summer of 2012 for quail and turkey. This is an excellent seed producer for quail and other upland birds. The seeds are hard and may lie on the ground for long periods of time producing a dependable winter food source. Reseeds will transpire annually with a light disking each fall, therefore providing benefits for years to come.
This project will establish proper conservation techniques to allow not only a restoration of the quail population, but also to ensure the population survives and thrives for future hunters.
Click here for less.- Marion County Pheasants Forever will receive $1,000 to help host their 12th annual Youth Day. This event helps educate area youth on the importance of conservation. Many area youth have been introduced to the outdoors and all it has to offer through this great event.
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Marion County Pheasants Forever makes it a goal to get kids in the outdoors who might not otherwise have the opportunity. Their annual youth event accomplishes this by providing area youth to enjoy activities only offered by the outdoors. The event will be hosted November 12, 2012 in Waldo, OH.
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2011 Grant Recipients
SportDOG Brand Conservation Fund® has awarded $20,000 to four conservation groups as part of it's annual grant program, and another $1,000 for the newly created Kids in Conservation. "We received 22 grant applications this year for our grant program and another 12 for our Kids in Conservation Grant, the most since we started the programs," said Eleanor Marshall, with SportDOG Brand. "The variety of projects and the creative ways that organizations are finding to improve and restore wildlife habitat makes the selection process inspiring for all of us at SportDOG. We are really proud to be associated with these conservation difference-makers." Grant recipients are chosen by the Conservation Fund Grant Review committee, and are based on which projects most align with SportDOG Brand's conservation goals. We're excited about being able to contribute to these types of projects that will benefit wildlife for generations to come.
In 2010, grants were awarded as follows:
1. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources– The IDNR will receive $5,000 to assist with the purchase of a tree-cutting tool for the expansion and maintenance of grassland and old-field habitat on the IDNR's Salamonie Reservoir propety. More than 1,200 acres are in need of succession control for the benefit of woodcock and upland birds and animals.
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This tree cutter will allow the IDNR to treat more acres of over-grown habitat that are not currently treatable with present tools. Small trees and large shrubs will be cut to promote early-successional habitat. Projects that are implemented with this tool will include clearing the fields adjacent to wetlands for waterfowl nesting, tree cutting alder stands to improve habitat for American woodcock, tree-cutting in over-grown fields to increase grassland and old-field habitat for rabbit and quail, maintenance of fire lanes for controlled burns and invasive species removal in upland game areas.
Click here for less.2. Pheasants Forever and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers – Pheasants Forever will receive $5,000 for a habitat reclamation project in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Fifty years ago, a flood control project, the Francis E. Walter Dam, left 250 acres of barren land in the area. Working together, PF and the Corps now have a goal of restoring native plant life to the area, creating viable habitat and food sources for wildlife and providing a quality experience for visitors to the project site.
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The construction of the US Army Corps of Engineers flood control project, Francis E. Walter Dam, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, began in 1957 and was completed in 1961. Its construction required a vast amount of top-soil to be excavated from approximately 250 acres of Army Corps property which comprises the current project site, open to public access for recreation and hunting opportunities. This area that was stripped of topsoil remains fallow with little to no herbaceous growth and is referred to as a borrow area. The borrow area has reduced land which was once farm fields, pastures, and woodland meadows to a moonscape of barren, rocky, hardpan subsoil. This land was no longer suitable for the support of native plants and wildlife.
Nearly fifty years later, little has changed. The areas stripped of topsoil remained essentially barren, except for the encroachment of invasive plant species, scrub pine, scrub birch, and weeds. Few of the native plants capable of providing any habitat or food value for wildlife exist in these borrow areas.
About three years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers at Francis Walter and Pheasants Forever, Chapter 803, started working together with shared goals. The goals were to restore native plant life to barren areas, to create viable habitat and food sources for all animal life, and to provide a quality experience for those who enjoy the forests, fields and wildlife on the Army Corps of Engineers project site. The following wildlife habitat restoration and management plan was developed.
The overall goal of this project is to provide native grasses, shrubs, tress and food plots that will enhance shelter and increase brooding and nesting opportunities for all upland species. It will also control erosion, improve soil quality and limit the encroachment of invasive plant species. This will hopefully increase the number of nesting pheasants and other upland game birds to provide more positive dog training and hunting experiences to the several gun dog clubs that use the project area.
Both organizations also hope to increase the quality of hunting opportunities for young, beginning hunters who have been enrolled in mentored youth pheasant hunts with trained bird dogs over the last several years. These hunts are sponsored by North East Pennsylvania Pheasants Forever in coorperation with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Click here for less.UPDATE: A record spring rainfall caused a three week delay in planting season in Northern Pennsylvania. Despite this set back, these organizations were able to move quickly after the fields and topsoil pits dried out enough to have hundreds of tons of topsoil delivered and spread on the most barren project areas. Siz inches of compressed topsoil provided a base for three different food plants, measuring around two acres each.
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The construction of the US Army Corps of Engineers flood control project, Francis E. Walter Dam, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, began in 1957 and was completed in 1961. Its construction required a vast amount of top-soil to be excavated from approximately 250 acres of Army Corps property which comprises the current project site, open to public access for recreation and hunting opportunities. This area that was stripped of topsoil remains fallow with little to no herbaceous growth and is referred to as a borrow area. The borrow area has reduced land which was once farm fields, pastures, and woodland meadows to a moonscape of barren, rocky, hardpan subsoil. This land was no longer suitable for the support of native plants and wildlife.
Nearly fifty years later, little has changed. The areas stripped of topsoil remained essentially barren, except for the encroachment of invasive plant species, scrub pine, scrub birch, and weeds. Few of the native plants capable of providing any habitat or food value for wildlife exist in these borrow areas.
About three years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers at Francis Walter and Pheasants Forever, Chapter 803, started working together with shared goals. The goals were to restore native plant life to barren areas, to create viable habitat and food sources for all animal life, and to provide a quality experience for those who enjoy the forests, fields and wildlife on the Army Corps of Engineers project site. The following wildlife habitat restoration and management plan was developed.
The overall goal of this project is to provide native grasses, shrubs, tress and food plots that will enhance shelter and increase brooding and nesting opportunities for all upland species. It will also control erosion, improve soil quality and limit the encroachment of invasive plant species. This will hopefully increase the number of nesting pheasants and other upland game birds to provide more positive dog training and hunting experiences to the several gun dog clubs that use the project area.
Both organizations also hope to increase the quality of hunting opportunities for young, beginning hunters who have been enrolled in mentored youth pheasant hunts with trained bird dogs over the last several years. These hunts are sponsored by North East Pennsylvania Pheasants Forever in coorperation with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Click here for less.3. Ruffed Grouse Society – RGS will receive $5,000 to put toward restoring a ruffed grouse population in Missouri's River Hills Conservation Opportunity Area in Callaway, Montgomery and Warren counties. The current, scarce grouse numbers in the area will be supplemented with 120-180 captured and relocated grouse from Pennsylvania.
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Ruffed Grouse were stocked in Missouri from 1959-1962 in appropriate habitat locations. These stockings were successful and populations expanded in the state for the next 40 years with a ruffed grouse hunting season occurring in the state for many of those years. In the early 1990s, grouse populations began to decrease as available habitat matured and essential early successional forest habitat was lost.
In 2000, a group of partners that included the Missouri Department of Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Ruffed Grouse Society and others organized to address this habitat decline. Management activities to maintain the young forest habitat component, specifically the oak-hickory type, in a three county area in East Central Missouri were implemented on state and private lands. The majority of these targeted lands included or were adjacent to state Conservation Areas, identified as the potential core areas for the project. To date, over 10,000 acres of habitat have been improved in the project area through a variety of funding avenues.
Monitoring of bird populations in the area showed an increase in songbird numbers, but grouse numbers remain very low and were not responding to habitat improvements. Due to the low residual ruffed grouse population in Missouri, an emergency closure to the ruffed grouse season was imposed by the Missouri Department of Conservation during the 2010 seasonIt has been determined that restocking of ruffed grouse from other states is needed to recharge this population.This project will restock 120-180 ruffed grouse from Pennsylvania to supplement a scarce residual population of native grouse in the River Hills Conservation Opportunity Area.
Click here for less.4. Pheasants Forever and Future Farmers of America – Pheasants Forever will receive $5,000 to launch a curriculum with the Leopold Education Project entitled
Operation: Save the Quail. Sixth grade students will participate in various initiatives to build a curriculum to spread the goals of this project to educational systems throughout the United States. The initial class of
Operation: Save the Quail won a national award from the Disney Planet Challenge Contest.
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Pheasants Forever is working with the Leopold Education Project to create a guide on how to work with schools, local Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters and other partners on similar community habitat projects that also meet curriculum standards for middle school students. This guide will be incorporated into training workshops and conferences for both outreach partners as well as being distributed through the Leopold Education Project's network of educators and chapter leaders. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to creat school habitat projects across the country.
Click here for less.5.*YOUTH GRANT*The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation (TWRF) has been awarded $1,000 to further the Tennessee Kids in Outdoors (TKO) Program. TWRA founded the TKO program in 2010 with the goal of encouraging youths to get outside and enjoy learning about nature.
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Too many of today's youths are not connected to the land. It is important to keep future generations engaged in the outdoors, and outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing. With this in mind, the TWRA introduced the Tennessee Kids in Outdoors program in 2010. Pilotted in Middle Tennessee, the program has already assisted over 5,000 youths get away from their television sets and get outside.
In 2011, TWRF looks to expand the program state-wide. The agency has partnered with various organizations, including SportDOG, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Cumberland Rivers Compact and many city and county agencies to provide funding and education related to outdoor youth activities. These events include: Fishing days, youth squirrel, rabbit, deear and dove hunts, NWTF Jakes days and many other events. Through state-wide expansion, TKO hopes to assist many more children get outside to learn about habitat conservation, and outdoor sporting and recreation.
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