June 2, 2015 Newsletter

 Hello Gallatin Valley Pheasants Forever Members-

 I wanted to provide an update to all of you regarding some of   our Chapter's recent activities. I have summarized the Chapter's highlights   from the previous twelve months below.

 1.    The 2015 banquet was a great success,   judged by the enthusiasm I saw at the event and proceeds we garnered from our   effort.

a.    We had 209 attendees.

b.    Gross banquet revenue including the   Gun-A-Week drawing was $66,000.

c.    Net banquet revenue including the   Gun-A-Week ticket pre-purchase was $17,000. We had about $6,000 in expenses   charged to the 2015 banquet that will be utilized over the next several   banquets including the Apple tablets, Square software that is run on the   Apple tablets, merchandise, and sponsor gifts.

d.    The Chapter now has $75,000 in our   account which the Board will disperse for approved habitat improvement   projects in Montana.

2.    The banquet committee will be making   some changes to the 2016 banquet focusing on the check-in procedure to   minimize the check-in wait time, and requiring payment at the time of   registration.

3.    The banquet committee is in dire need   of additional human resources. This year they were understaffed. If the   Chapter wants to maintain our banquet experience, the Chapter has to enlarge   the volunteer base to make it happen. Without additional volunteers, our   banquet committee cannot continue to improve our banquet experience. Please   spread the word, and have potential volunteers contact Becky Turner (rlturner@glacierbancorp.com)   or Rose Timmer (rosetimmer@gmail.com).

4.    Tom Pick, Jim Hoschouer, Gordon Haugen   and I attended the PF State Meeting in Billings. No real earthshaking news   from National or other Montana chapters. The highlight for me was a   presentation about progressive farming techniques to promote soil health put   on by North 40 Ag (https://www.facebook.com/north40ag).   Our chapter has a continuing interest in promoting this subject on a   landscape scale (think Townships rather than acres), as evidenced our habitat   committee meeting a few weeks ago. I made a rather lengthy comment to the   State meeting attendees saying that if PF doesn't endorse and promote these   types of farming practices across the northern plains we don't have a chance   of replacing the upland bird habitat we've lost due to loss of CRP. I also   said that we won't be successful at this effort unless PF National gets   behind it and promotes it from the top down, not just from the bottom up. I   know that Dan Bailey (our Montana Regional Representative) is enthusiastic in   this regard, but I believe his resources are limited unless PF National gets   on board. Without support from National, I don't see PF as a real player in   promoting progressive farming practices that could really help our upland   bird populations on a large, multi-state scale. You can voice your support by   contacting Dan directly at dbailey@pheasantsforever.org.

5.    Tom Pick's habitat efforts have   focused on several projects as presented in his habitat report below.

6.     Our chapter has a new website format.    Please check it out at GVPF.org.  Thanks to Justin Varley   for making this happen.

And finally, I am stepping down as GVPF Chapter President. Jim   Hoschouer (jimh@theredstonegroup.net)   will step into that role effective immediately. Kyle Barner will step into   the Vice President role. I will continue to serve on the Chapter Board.   Thanks to all who helped me throughout my tenure at the GVPF helm. It's been   a good ride.

 That's all I've got. It's been a real pleasure being part of this organization.

 Scott