Habitat council backs Pheasants Forever pilot to create walk‑in access on pivot corners

The Habitat Council on March 14 recommended moving forward with a Pheasants Forever pilot that would establish high‑diversity brood and upland cover on small pivot corner parcels, paired with five‑year access agreements that allow walk‑in hunting.

The council’s 4–3 vote followed lengthy discussion about how to pay landowners for access and whether payments should be routed through the division’s walk‑in access program. Pheasants Forever said it will supply seed, volunteer monitoring and outreach; landowners will perform planting and, under five‑year agreements, permit walk‑in access. The group asked for money to cover seed, establishment and incentive payments covering five years of maintenance and access.

Why it matters: Council members said the project aims to add brood‑rearing cover in key corridors where small patches can boost local upland bird populations and provide new public hunting opportunities without converting large tracts of land. Members also warned the program must avoid creating an undeclared new access rate that would be hard to reduce later.

What the council heard: Aiden, presenting for Pheasants Forever, described Colorado and Plains state examples where pivot‑corner plantings produced brood cover, attracted pheasants and drew public use. He said chapters and local volunteers will scout and monitor sites, provide seed and work with the division on siting.

Upland representative Randy Hutchison praised the concept but pressed how sites were chosen and whether the seeding would establish in dry corner soils. Aiden said sites were selected by chapter volunteers based on where wild birds were already present, and that newly hired Pheasants Forever biologists and NRCS staff in Northern Utah will provide technical support on seed mixes and establishment methods. Kobi Jones and others urged cross‑program coordination so hunters can find the new access slots — an argument for linking agreements to the division’s walk‑in access platform if payments can be aligned.

Funding and conditions: The proposal included seed, establishment costs and five years of incentive payments. Council members negotiated a funding swap in which the Habitat Council would pay more for habitat establishment (seed and planting) while Pheasants Forever would take on the landowner incentive payment piece if possible. The council asked staff to ensure any incentive payment does not create a permanent, higher walk‑in access rate without broader review.

Vote: After a motion to approve the pilot with the revised funding split, the council voted 4–3 to recommend the project to the division director for funding consideration. The vote record (tally) was captured in the meeting minutes; the chair noted the recommendation is a funding recommendation, not a final appropriation.

Next steps: Pheasants Forever and division staff will finalize memoranda of understanding, confirm seed mixes adapted for Utah, and coordinate site selection with NRCS and the division’s walk‑in access staff. The council asked that the pilot include annual reporting on establishment success and recreational impacts.

Speakers quoted: “We want to see if it works — can we establish high‑diversity cover, will pheasants use it and will people recreate there?” Aiden, Pheasants Forever. “My priority would be that if we paid that much money and sportsmen don't know about it, the sportsmen have to know about it,” Randy Hutchison, Upland Representative.

Ending: Council members described the vote as a cautious approval to test a concept used elsewhere, asking for clearly defined monitoring, cost‑sharing and communications so the pilot can be scaled without unintended long‑term access obligations.