Michigan Volunteer Named PF
National Chairman of the Board
2nd Michigander to Chair National Conservation
Organization
St. Paul,
Minn. – May 31, 2005
– Pheasants Forever (PF) announces the election of Michigan
native, R. Charles McLravy, as the organization’s new
chairman of the board. The 17-member board elected McLravy
as the ninth person to hold the organization’s highest
post. McLravy succeeds Paul Hanson of Sauk Rapids,
Minnesota who served a two-year term as the chair. Gordon
Guyer, former president of Michigan State University and
former director of the Michigan Department of Natural
Resources, is the only other Michigander to ever hold the PF
chair.
McLravy
is the managing director of Michigan Avenue Ventures, LLC.
and Communications Capital Managers, LLC. Both companies
specialize in the media and telecommunications business.
McLravy and his family reside in his hometown of Lansing,
Michigan. Overall, McLravy has been involved with PF since
1993 when he helped found the Ingham County PF Chapter. He
served as that chapter’s president for over eleven years and
has served on the PF national board of directors since
January 2002.
“I am
honored to lead PF into a critical time for all Pheasants
Forever members, hunters, and conservationists,” reports
McLravy. “The 2007 federal farm bill holds millions of
acres worth of grasslands and wetlands critical to wildlife
populations and our natural resources of soil, water, and
air. I am thrilled to take the reins from Paul Hanson and I
hope to be as valuable a leader for PF as my mentor, Gordon
Guyer.”
Hanson
was elected chair in February 2003, but decided not to run
for re-election after the birth of his fifth child this
winter. Hanson also owns a State Farm Insurance Agency in
Sauk Rapids, Minnesota and is active in a political campaign
there. He will remain on the national board, but decided to
step down as chair due to the time commitment necessary.
Under Hanson’s two years of leadership, PF has grown by
nearly 15,000 members to an organization of 113,000,
successfully held the second-ever National Pheasant Fest,
increased the number of educators trained through PF’s
education arm - the Leopold Education Project, secured PF’s
first television show to begin airing later this summer, and
actively participated in national conservation issues,
namely issues involving the Conservation Reserve Program
(CRP).
“Both
Paul and Charlie have risen through PF’s chapter system,”
explains Howard Vincent, PF president and CEO. “They are
two successful business and family men that take hundreds of
hours of their time each year and dedicate it to
conservation. Not only has their passion for the Pheasants
Forever cause benefited their local communities, but they
are doing a great service to all pheasant
hunter-conservationists across the country with their
volunteerism.”
This is
the second big announcement for PF in Michigan recently.
Earlier this month, the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality announced it is awarding $4 million in Clean
Michigan Initiative grant funds to PF to support the
Michigan Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.
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. The 17
members on the national board of directors hail from
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
