Upland Chapter of Pheasants Forever Quarterly Newsletter
(1st Quarter 2008)

Greetings from the UCPF!  It has been awhile since we have sent a newsletter out, but we hope to return to a quarterly mailing.  Please feel free to share the newsletter with friends and potential members, and contact one of the UCPF officers if you have anything you would like to add to the next newsletter or would like to join our club.

CHAPTER NEWS
Following a successful banquet September 20, 2007, at Memories Ballroom, the chapter held nominations and elections. 
The 2007-2008 officers are:

President                Steve Gasper          675-4162

Vice-President        James Karow          457-3243

Secretary                Jason MacDonald   298-0919

Treasurer                David Drozd           355-6730

Habitat Chair          Jerry Tomcek          359-2880

Youth Coordinator  Randy Loew           842-4453

UCPF would like to thank Keith Koskey for his many years as president of the chapter, and for all the time and effort he has contributed to the chapter over the 21 years of its existence as its president.

THANKS KEITH! 

UPCOMING MEETING DATES

February 13^th

March 12^th

April 9^th

May 14th

All meetings held at 7:00 pm in the Gander Mountain meeting room.  Everyone is welcome to attend-just drop in.

 SPRING SEED SALE
After much discussion, it has been decided to hold the annual seed sale and raffle the last weekend in April, instead of the first weekend in May.  The location will also be changed.  The seed sale will be held Sunday April 27, 2008 at the Cedar Creek Gander Mountain.  Please let anyone who may be interested in obtaining Roundup Ready corn at drastically reduced prices know of these changes.  We also will continue to offer habitat mix consisting of corn, sunflowers, buckwheat, and sorghum.  Trees, flowers, and conventional corn will also be available. 

SPRING RAFFLE

In conjunction with the seed sale, we will be holding a raffle with a 300-ticket limit.  The prizes will include a Browning BPS shotgun, Tikka rifle, HD flat screen TV, portable generator, and a Nintendo Wii.  Tickets will be sold before the event as well as the day of, if any remain.  Just $20 per ticket, so they should go fast.  Contact any officer if you would like to purchase tickets, or are interested in helping sell tickets in advance.  Also, if anyone would like to help at the seed sale, please contact one of the officers or plan to attend one of the monthly meetings held the 2^nd Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm. in the Gander Mountain Meeting room.

YOUTH EVENT
Randy Loew, Youth Coordinator, is in the planning stages of the 2008 Youth Events.  The first event will be held in conjunction with the spring crow counts, giving the young members a chance to help determine the pheasant population in Marathon County.  Further details will be available soon!

HABITAT

Jerry Tomcek, Habitat Chair, along with Jim Riehle, have been making continued progress on the former Hoffman farmland in the Henderson Hewitt township.  The land, located on county G, east of Mill Road, has been worked and planted in recent years in an attempt to prepare it for prairie grass planting.  At this time, 75 acres are in prairie grass and doing very well.  In 2008, another 30 acres will be planted as well, for a total of 105 acres.  This work will help to provide needed nesting cover and nutrition for pheasants, along with other wildlife.  The pictures below show the land and the work that has been done.  Thanks to Jerry and Jim for the time and effort they have donated to make this project successful.  UCPF hopes to continue to increase the number of habitat projects we have in the area, and through funds raised at the banquet and seed sale, new projects may be possible.

UCPF Habitat Work 2007                                             Prarie Grass Habitat Project

 FALL BANQUET
We have scheduled the Fall Fundraising banquet for Friday, September 5, 2008 at Memories Ballroom.  Please mark the date on your calendars and plan to enjoy an evening of fun, while raising money to fund youth events and habitat projects.  If you are interested in assisting with the banquet, please contact Steve or Sonja Gasper @ 675-4162, or via email at Steve.Gasper@UplandChapterPF.org.  We will soon begin the early planning and marketing stages of the banquet, and any assistance is greatly appreciated.