Arick Jamie was the first ever Habitat Specialist in Colorado, hired in March 2023. He’s worked for several years with CPW as a technician in Lamar, CO doing habitat restoration on public and private lands in SE CO. Arick works closely with Evan to cover the entire SE corner of the state.
We’re excited to have Arick onboard and helping pilot the habitat specialist program for Pheasants Forever and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Sarah Ashbrook is the new Private Lands Conservationist in Wray, Colorado. She works in partnership with Pheasants Forever, the NRCS, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to serve Yuma and Washington counties on wildlife projects.
Sarah is finishing her Master’s in Wildlife Conservation and Management, and she has previously served in similar biologist roles in both Nebraska and Iowa. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, hunting, and fishing, as well as doing various craft projects.
If you are interested in exploring the various programs the NRCS, Pheasants Forever, or CPW have to offer for putting habitat on the landscape, please feel free to reach out to the Wray, CO, NRCS Field office and speak with Sarah. She is excited to start making a difference for her community and its wildlife.
Evan is one of our new Habitat Specialists doing on-the-ground habitat restoration in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The habitat specialist program is new for us in Colorado, but this model is based on a much bigger and more successful model that Pheasants Forever has built as an organization.
We’re looking forward to seeing the great habitat work that Pheasants Forever and CPW can accomplish together.
~ Michael Peyton
“Hello! My name is Evan Jacobs.
I’m so excited to be a part of Pheasants Forever working alongside Colorado Parks and Wildlife! I recently graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management.
My hobbies include running, fishing, hunting, and rock climbing.
I look forward to aiding in the habitat restoration of quail and pheasants in southeastern Colorado!”
Pheasants Forever Colorado is excited to have Sarah join the team to fill the niche needed in Lamar.
Sarah will be working out of NRCS offices primarily with Lesser Prairie Chicken work in SE Colorado but the opportunity exists to do other great wildlife work.
~ Michael Peyton
“My name is Sarah Leal, and I am the new Private Land Conservationist with Pheasants Forever.
I recently moved to SE Colorado after graduating from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in Forest and Rangeland Stewardship. I am based out of the Natural Resource Conservation Service offices in Baca, Bent, and Prowers Counties.
Outside of this position, I enjoy spending time outdoors and working on training my dog, Sky. It is great to work for an organization that not only aligns with my passion for habitat conservation but dogs as well!”
Enter for a chance to win a John Deere Gator and support a great cause at the same time! Northern Colorado Pheasants Forever is proud to offer this exciting sweepstake, where one lucky winner will take home a brand new John Deere Gator HPX 651E, perfect for any outdoor adventure, sponsored by 4Rivers Equipment.
Peyton will work closely with conservation partners to protect habitat in Colorado
Fort Collins, Colo. – Sept. 9, 2022
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are pleased to announce the promotion of Michael Peyton to the Colorado State Coordinator. In his new role, Peyton will be responsible for the management of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s programs and field staff in Colorado. He will work closely with partners, local chapters and other stakeholders to ensure habitat continues to be recognized as a critically important driver of abundant wildlife populations, healthy soil, clean water and sustainable agriculture in the state.
“Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are expanding in Colorado and we’re really excited to add Michael to the team there,” said Al Eiden, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s director of field operations for the west region. “He’s an experienced Pheasants Forever staff member with a great background in conservation and the outdoors in general. In addition to his experience, he brings a real passion for protecting wild places to his new position, as well as the work ethic we need to continue to grow in Colorado. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish.”
Prior to starting his new position, Peyton was the senior range and wildlife conservationist for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever in Utah. He grew up in Watertown, South Dakota and graduated from South Dakota State University in 2015 with a degree in wildlife and fisheries science.
“I’m really excited to lead the conservation efforts across the state of Colorado,” Peyton said. “One of our top priorities right off the bat is filling a couple of vacant positions and getting Colorado fully staffed from a PF perspective. I’m also looking forward to identifying new growth opportunities in the state where we can have a big impact on habitat.”
Peyton will be based in northern Colorado and began his new role in late August after moving from Utah with his wife Kate and newborn son, Henry. Outside of work obligations, he can most likely be found fly fishing or pursuing upland birds with his two black labs, Sage and Ace.
“Colorado has such a great atmosphere as far as the outdoor lifestyle and culture goes,” Peyton said. “That’s what Kate and I like to do. We both grew up in the Midwest, so to have a chance to live out West and experience Utah and Colorado is really special.”
About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever make up the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. This community of more than 400,000 members, supporters and partners is dedicated to the protection of our uplands through habitat improvement, public access, education and advocacy. A network of 754 local chapters spread across North America determine how 100 percent of their locally raised funds are spent — the only national conservation organization that operates through this grassroots structure. Since its creation in 1982, the organization has dedicated more than $1 billion to 567,500 habitat projects benefiting 22 million acres.
Media Contact
Casey Sill
(402)-657-4143
csill@pheasantsforever.org
Join us for a fun and exciting evening with your family and friends, dedicated to raising funds aimed at wildlife conservation, habitat improvements, and enhancing local programs for youth and women in the field.
For more information, visit www.pikespeakpheasantsforever.org
Jacob Bobenmoyer of the Denver Broncos has chosen to represent Pheasants Forever during the My Cause My Cleats campaign this year.
My Cause My Cleats celebrates the positive impact that players have made in communities across America and provides players with an opportunity to highlight the cause-related work they are passionate about on the field.
The Denver Broncos announced players’ involvement on Monday, Nov. 28 and the players will have the option to wear their cleats on Sunday, Dec. 4 when the team plays at the Baltimore Ravens.
All participating Broncos and the causes they have chosen to represent can be found here: www.denverbroncos.com/mycausemycleats.
By Greg M. Peters
When Rebecca Burton arrived at the NRCS office in Craig, Colorado, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect for her first day of work. It was 2019 and even though she would be working on private lands conservation under the direct supervision of NRCS staff, Burton wasn’t officially an NRCS employee.
Like more than 19 other conservation professionals across the West, Burton works to advance rangeland conservation through the Sage Grouse Initiative as a Strategic Watershed Action Team (SWAT) member. Many “swatters,” as they’re affectionately known, are trained in rangeland ecology or wildlife biology (like Burton), and their work on western rangelands is part of a shared-capacity approach to conserving the biologically and culturally rich sagebrush sea.
Burton and her counterparts are employed by one of a handful of the NRCS’s Western Working Lands for Wildlife partner organizations; in Burton’s case, it’s Pheasants Forever. Through a multi-year agreement with the NRCS, these organizations can hire and manage these partner positions to add much-needed capacity to the important private lands conservation work that is the NRCS’s specialty.
Michael Brown oversees SWAT staffers across the West (Brown is also a Pheasants Forever employee in a shared-capacity position), and the crew is busy indeed. According to Brown, collectively these positions have developed customized grazing plans on over 2.95 million acres, worked to remove over 333,000 acres of encroaching conifers, and marked or removed 318 miles of fence since SGI started.
So, even though Burton may not have known just what to expect on her first day in the office, the Craig, Colorado NRCS staff was ready for her.
“Basically, they told me, ‘You’re the partner biologist, and you’ll be working on sage grouse and other wildlife-related projects,’” she explained. “The office had a long list of producers who had requested a variety of technical assistance help. That’s where I started – working through that list with a focus on wildlife projects.”
It didn’t take her long to start making a difference. Kendall Smith is the District Conservationist in the NRCS’s Craig/Meeker Office, and he’s thrilled with the added capacity Burton provides.
We are excited to announce the launch of our first fundraiser of 2021. We did not let COVID slow down our outreach and habitat improvement efforts, but we did temporarily pause our fundraising. We now need more help than ever to replenish our coffers, which will enable us to continue to do all of the great things you’ve come to expect from Northern Colorado Pheasants Forever. Details on the event are below.
2021 Super Sweepstakes Details
Our super sweepstakes is an amazing opportunity to win one of 12 fabulous prizes.
