Pheasants Forever
Trades Iowa Dentist/Mayor for Nebraska Radiologist
PF’s Board of
Directors adds Omaha Influence
St.
Paul, Minn. – May 27, 2004
– Pheasants Forever’s (PF) national board of directors elected
James E. Call, M.D. to replace George A Wilson, D.D.S. on the
seventeen-member board. Wilson, who is also the mayor of Forest
City, Iowa, decided to retire from his position on the PF board
after eighteen years of service in the position. Dr. Call is a
retired radiologist from the Omaha, Nebraska area.
Dr. Call spent
30 years working as a radiologist for Radiology Nuclear Medicine,
Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska, where he retired in 1999. Those Nebraska
connections were extremely appealing to the board, because
Pheasants Forever is set to hold Pheasant Fest 2005 at Qwest
Center in Omaha next January 14, 15, and 16. Consequently, Dr.
Call’s Omaha contacts and knowledge of the greater Omaha area will
be immediately valuable to the organization. Dr. Call and his
wife, Barbara, recently moved to their vacation home in Deerwood,
Minnesota, but Dr. Call had lived in the Omaha area since 1966
when he moved there to study medicine at the University of
Nebraska.
“With my
retirement as a full-time radiologist, I have the time to make a
difference and help support the causes of Pheasant Forever,”
explained Dr. Call. “I strongly believe conservation, and its
role in our environment, is of paramount importance to the future
of wildlife and its habitat. It would be my hope that I can help
ensure the ability to hunt, fish, and enjoy the great outdoors for
future generations. Along those lines, I am thrilled to see
Pheasant Fest come to the Omaha area. Pheasant Fest will be a
wonderful event for families to pass along the pheasant hunting
tradition to the next generation, while also providing a major
boost for the area’s economy.”
Dr. Wilson
joined the Pheasants Forever national board in 1986. Over those
eighteen years, he helped the organization grow from a few
thousand members accomplishing a couple hundred projects a year to
a national organization of 108,000 members that complete over
30,000 projects each year. A founding member of the
Winnebago-Hancock, Iowa chapter, Dr. Wilson was instrumental in
the development of the Iowa Pheasants Forever Trust Fund. The
Fund pools a portion of Iowa chapters’ money for the purpose of
acquiring lands. Once acquired, those lands are turned over to
the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and/or county
conservation boards and opened to public hunting and recreation.
“Pheasant
hunters across the land owe a loud ‘thanks’ to George Wilson,”
remarked Paul Hanson, Pheasants Forever chairman of the board.
“For eighteen years, George gave of his time, passion, and
knowledge as a volunteer of Pheasants Forever’s board of
directors. He has helped to shape this organization and his
absence will be missed. With that said, Dr. Call brings his board
and conservation experience to our group, as well as his added
expertise of the Omaha area.”
Pheasants
Forever was formed in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1982. PF is a
non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the protection
and enhancement of pheasant and other wildlife populations in
North America through habitat improvement, land management, public
awareness, and education. Such efforts benefit landowners and
wildlife alike. Minnesota currently boasts the most Pheasants
Forever members with just over 20,000, while Iowa is second with
just under 20,000, and Nebraska comes in third with almost 15,000
members. The seventeen members on the national board of directors
hail from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
For
additional information about
Pheasants Forever, please visit
www.pheasantsforever.org.
