The new statewide coordinator for Pheasants Forever has Wright County roots, and has called South Haven home for most of the past decade.
Eran Sandquist was named to the position on Sept. 1, and has been busy traveling to oversee various projects around Minnesota ever since.
His new title is the culmination of a life spent outdoors, an education geared toward wildlife management and a career that has, from its beginning in 2002, focused on fulfilling the mission of Pheasants Forever.
"I was very fortunate growing up to have an outdoor-loving family," said Sandquist. "We often hunted and fished on weekends and weekdays after basketball practice. My grandpa had 40 acres in Watertown. Every weekend myself and my uncles and cousins, everyone would go out there and just go hunting for the day. My grandma would cook a big lunch. Those are the kinds of experiences that I remember and what really drove me into this occupation."
Sandquist grew up on the Crow River, graduating from Delano High School in 1997, and moved on to earn his biology degree from St. Cloud State University. He graduated in 2002 and expected to eventually find a job with the Department of Natural Resources, but he ended up with Pheasants Forever instead.
"I was lucky and fortunate enough to get a position with them my first summer after graduating, and I haven’t turned back since," he said.
Getting his start
Sandquist’s first position with Pheasants Forever was as a habitat specialist, pursuing tasks such as replanting and establishing native grasses, mostly in the Stearns County area.
After a year of that work he became a regional biologist overseeing the northern half of the state and about 41 county chapters in all. Most chapters around the state are organized by county. He worked with those chapters to raise money and leverage their dollars by pursuing grants, and provided direction on how to most effectively use available funds, purchase land, hold events and more.
"I loved it. These people are volunteers, and it’s really cool to work with those folks who are so dedicated in their local communities, wanting to do more and make the world a better place in their little part of it," said Sandquist.
After a dozen years in that capacity he accepted his current position this fall.
"It’s a lot of the same duties, but I get to have a statewide view and make sure the whole state is growing and maintaining and accomplishing our mission at a higher level than ever," he said.
The mission
The objectives of Pheasants Forever fall into three broad categories: purchasing land and turning it over to the DNR or other wildlife management agencies to preserve habitat and keep it open for public use, restoring public and private lands to improve existing habitat, and educating young people and families on the importance of preservation.
"We’re very active in fostering our next generation of conservationists and making sure there are kids and women and families getting outdoors so we have future conservationists to take our place," said Sandquist. "I get to be part of all of that. It’s pretty cool."
The state coordinator title was newly created this year, and Sandquist is the first individual to fill the office. Ever since the passage of the Legacy Amendment in 2008 the opportunities available to the organization have expanded, and Sandquist is now on the road about four days a week helping with projects around the state.
"Pheasants Forever was already doing a lot of the work that the amendment wanted to do, and so we were just kind of in a great position to step into a leadership role in that partnership and start helping them deliver additive benefits to the state and the taxpayers," said Sandquist. "We’re doing more than we ever have. We’re bringing in an exponential amount of revenue and putting that right into projects locally."
Plenty of support
While Sandquist may be on the road often, his wife Melissa, who is active with the Wright County Pheasants Forever chapter and is the chair of its annual banquet, is fully supportive of his work.
"Eran is very dedicated to his profession and passionate about habitat," she said. "His promotion was earned and is well deserved. I have no doubt that Eran will continue to work to improve habitat so future generations may enjoy the outdoor experiences we have. Myself and our family couldn’t be more proud of him."
For his part, Sandquist said he is fortunate to have a family that shares his priorities.
"I’m really blessed to have the wife that I do. She gets it," he said. "Before we had children she would go with me to banquets or wherever I was going in the state that day. We’d just spend time together in that way because she enjoyed it."
Now with two daughters, Jaden, 8, and Ava, 4, Melissa hasn’t done as much traveling, but the whole family still enjoys outdoor pursuits together. Jaden accompanied her dad for turkey hunting this year.
"It was really a pleasure this year to let her carry the gun for the first time," said Sandquist. "She did miss one, had a lot of close encounters, and she learned a lot. Spending that time with her was really something (that we enjoyed). And Ava loves to be outside and fishing, so we spend a ton of time outdoors together as a family."
A good base
With destinations around the state and duties in the Twin Cities as well, South Haven has been a good base of operations for a state coordinator.
"Now that I’ve been here since 2005 I don’t think I could ever leave the area. We’re really fond of the lakes and the habitat and the different things we’ve come to enjoy out here," said Sandquist.
It doesn’t hurt that Wright County has its own high-quality Pheasants Forever chapter. As someone who works with all 75 chapters around the state, Sandquist has the perspective to say so.
"They’re one of the best. They set the bar really high," he said. "They have a good group of folks. I have to give credit to all the past volunteers who stepped up and got something great going here in Wright County and now the chapter is kind of in the transition stage where some of the younger folks are starting to take over. Again, kudos to all the old guard who have really set the stage for delivering on the mission in Wright County."
Sandquist pointed out that the group will be celebrating its 30th anniversary at its annual membership banquet on March 7 at Classic Hall in Annandale. Over its 30 years, it has raised and spent over $4 million, and has completed nine land acquisition projects totaling over 1,000 acres that are now permanently protected for habitat and public use. The chapter was the 95th to form in the nation.
"This is one of the better chapters," said Sandquist. "They’re doing everything: buying land, restoring land, they have a great disabled veterans hunt and youth and family mentor hunts where they get folks outdoors who want to hunt that don’t have the opportunity. They just do it all."
Because each chapter keeps and spends the money it raises in the manner it sees fit, Sandquist said that as a non-profit organization Pheasants Forever is extremely efficient and effective. As a high-level coordinator, he sees how each project benefits the state overall.
"I get emails and phone calls all the time from folks who hunted one of our properties that Pheasants Forever helped purchase and they tell me cool stories about how their son shot their first rooster, or they got their first deer or turkey on the property, and now they’re getting involved with the local Pheasants Forever chapter because of the cool experience they had.
"To me those kinds of stories are invaluable and really embody what I’m trying to do out there every day."