LaSalle County Pheasants Forever Chapter 177 - History

In 1982, Dennis Andersen, Outdoor Editor for St. Paul Post Dispatch, started Pheasant Forever in Minnesota. The organization was founded to reverse the decline in upland game birds by changing farm practices, educating the public, and developing and maintaining proper habitat for nesting. This message was quickly adopted by surrounding states. Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois Pheasant Forever chapters were formed in many parts of these states.

A group of concerned farmers, conservationists, and hunters in LaSalle County; Jim Cavalini, Tony Harcar, Mick Rowe, John McCoy, Tim Wright and Bill Olson, met and later attended a DNR meeting regarding habitat where they discussed food plots and nesting cover. In addition, they discussed forming a Pheasants Forever chapter. After contacting National Headquarters in Minnesota, they met with a Pheasants Forever representative. That meeting on September 17, 1987 was the beginning of the LaSalle County Chapter of Pheasants Forever, the 177th chapter chartered in the nation and the ninth chapter in Illinois.

Through their efforts, the LaSalle County Pheasants Forever Chapter began having fundraising banquets in March 1988, which led them to become one of the more active chapters in the nation. First President, Mick Rowe, coordinated the first banquet held at Koolies Banquet Hall in Ottawa, Illinois. Forty-two people attended the banquet and the chapter raised approximately $750. They purchased a seeder, gave out grass seed and sorghum to area farmers for the purposes of planting food plots and providing nesting cover.