by Eric Harrold
Kent Lundquist of Paullina received the Polaris Habitat Stewardship Award from the O’Brien County Chapter of Pheasants Forever on Saturday, July 8. The award is given annually to a property owner in the county that has demonstrated excellence in promoting habitat for pheasants and other wildlife.
Pheasants Forever J.P. Knutson, regional field representative for western Iowa, and Farm Bill biologist Mike Sundall were there for the presentation of the award along with Terry Morris, president of the O’Brien County Pheasants Forever Chapter.
Lundquist has made habitat improvements on a total of 175 acres that is south and southeast of Paullina, including prairie plantings and food plots. Some of the six acres of food plots is rotated between corn/beans and sorghum.
“We started doing CRP plantings about 2015, but when we bought the property there was some pre-existing CRP that expired, but we reseeded those plots,” Lundquist said.
Lundquist said that controlled burns had been conducted as mid-contract management on most of the CRP ground. He relies on hunting friends and family to help him conduct the burns on days when the wind is right.
When burns are conducted he has close access to water resources and calls in to emergency services prior to starting a burn. The burns help control woody species and encourage native forbs and grasses that provide nesting cover and foraging habitat for young pheasant broods in need of abundant insects to fuel their growing bodies.
Lundquist said that there has been a major increase in the pheasant population due to the improvements he has made to habitat on his property.
At first, Lundquist said he propagated some pheasants and released them, but he gives more credit to the habitat change that has occurred on the property.
Lundquist was born and raised seven miles southeast of Paullina. He enjoyed hunting pheasants and deer in those younger years, something he shares these days with his son, Scott, and expects his grandkids to be the next generation of avid hunters on the property.
Lundquist saw a ton of potential in the property that he acquired in 2008, with the desire to have property of his own for hunting as a motivation as well as the chance to build a home of his own on a piece of land with highway access.
“Any producer that is willing to sacrifice profit in order to have some habitat for wildlife for future generations deserves recognition,” said Morris, president of the O’Brien County Pheasants Forever Chapter. “He’s created a lot of habitat over the years and been a Pheasants Forever member for many years. He has a lot of grasses and food plots that provides resources for wildlife. Not a lot of producers go to the extent and sacrifice that he does.”
Saturday, August 12, is the O’Brien County Chapter of Pheasants Forever Golf Outing, which raises money for habitat. Contact Terry Morris at 712-261-0474 or through the O’Brien County Pheasants Forever Facebook page.