Funds will bolster organization’s Pollinator Habitat Outreach Program
St. Paul, Minn. – April 4, 2022 – Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are proud to announce a new $40,000 donation from the Minnesota-based nonprofit, Monarch Joint Venture, who works to conserve monarch butterflies and other pollinators. The donation will help support Pheasants Forever’s Pollinator Habitat Outreach Program.
“We’re very excited to be providing this partner grant to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever to continue their work with youth and pollinator outreach,” said Katie-Lyn Bunney, Monarch Joint Venture’s education coordinator. “The Milkweed in the Classroom program is a great way to involve teachers and students in conservation action for monarchs and pollinators, and we look forward to continued collaboration and partnership with the program.”
The decline in the overwintering population of the Eastern monarch butterfly – among other pollinator species such as native honeybees – has been widely circulated in the conservation community. According to the World Wildlife Fund Mexico, the 2020-2021 overwintering population of Eastern monarch butterflies decreased 26 percent from the previous year.
In response, conservation groups have been working diligently to establish habitat projects that benefit the monarch butterfly and other pollinating insects. This habitat also has major implications for upland bird populations, whose broods thrive in pollinator habitat each spring. The new partnership with Monarch Joint Venture will help protect both pollinators and upland birds.
“This new partnership is helping expand and grow both our Pollinator Habitat Outreach Program and the new Milkweed in the Classroom Program,” said Anna Swerczek, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s habitat education program manager. “With our partnership, we will be able to focus on planting new monarch and upland habitat, along with getting more Milkweed in the Classroom kits into the hands of teachers on a national scale. With the help of Monarch Joint Venture, we’re providing a full pollinator curriculum for schools to utilize.”
The Milkweed in the Classroom Program is a turn-key habitat education program for the classroom. Program support includes all the materials to grow native plants in the classroom (seed, soil, planting containers, grow light), online training on how to grow native plants in the classroom and curriculum that meets all national science standards. The results of this program not only benefit pollinators by providing quality foraging and nesting habitat, but also provide opportunities for youth to get outside and gain an appreciation for wildlife and conservation.
About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever make up the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. This community of more than 400,000 members, supporters and partners is dedicated to the protection of our uplands through habitat improvement, public access, education and advocacy. A network of 754 local chapters spread across North America determine how 100 percent of their locally raised funds are spent — the only national conservation organization that operates through this grassroots structure. Since its creation in 1982, the organization has dedicated more than $1 billion to 567,500 habitat projects benefiting 22 million acres.
