A pair of national hunting organizations is announcing plans to hold their annual joint expo in Iowa next year. Des Moines is the 2015 host for the National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic. Rehan Nana is a spokesman for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.  “Iowa has a great outdoor heritage and this is our third time we’re going to be in Iowa for National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic,” Nana says. “It’s the only city we’ve been in three times and we had such a great time the past two, we want to make it back for number three.”

It was a natural move to return to the Hawkeye State for the event, he says, as Iowa has more chapters of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever than any other state — 104 chapters — with some 20-thousand members. “If you’re a pheasant hunter, if you’re an outdoors person at all, this is the best show for you,” Nana says. “Really from wild game cooking to bird dogs to habitat conservation and habitat management, all things under the sun.” Last month, Milwaukee hosted this year’s show. Des Moines last hosted the show in 2010. At that event, U-S Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Conservation Reserve Program general signup #39. That C-R-P effort has served as one of the U-S-D-A’s most successful conservation programs.

Nana says a significant sum of money has been invested in wildlife habitat projects in Iowa through the years. “Since 1985, there’s been over $45-million spent in Iowa based on all of our chapters’ efforts for over 111,000 habitat projects. That’s more than 1.1-million acres for wildlife there.” The event is planned for Iowa’s capitol city February 20-22 of 2015. Learn more at the website: www.pheasantfest.org

(Radio Iowa)