Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Hire Shelly Wiggam as Kansas State Coordinator

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are proud to announce the hiring of Shelly Wiggam as Kansas state coordinator. In her new role, Wiggam will drive Kansas habitat programs, lead a talented team of field staff, and work closely with partners to ensure habitat conservation continues to be recognized as a critically important driver of abundant wildlife populations, sustainable agriculture, healthy soil, and clean water. 

“Shelly’s experience speaks for itself,” said Eran Sandquist, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Midwest director of conservation delivery. “Her extensive background in habitat work, prescribed fire, water quality, and other fields makes her a wonderful asset for delivering working lands programs in Kansas that are a benefit to wildlife, farmers and ranchers, and local communities. We’re thrilled to have her on our team.”  

Prior to joining Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, Wiggam accrued over two decades of experience in grassland habitat conservation science, research, and implementation on working lands. She has been a science and policy advisor to a wide array of producer-driven coalition groups, state and federal agencies, and agri-business leaders, including the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, Kansas Prescribed Fire Council, Kansas Grain Sorghum, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Corteva, and Bayer Crop Science, among others. Wiggam has also amassed more than 350 prescribed burns during her career – one of the top management tools for the conservation of pheasants, quail, pollinators, and other wildlife.  

In addition to her field experience, Wiggam is considered an expert scientist, grant writer, and outreach specialist in the fields of grazing management, rangeland ecology, ecosystem function, and native insect biology. In the policy arena, her experience and skill has led to the modification and creation of prescribed fire, grazing, and protection policy and technical standard changes at the local, state, and federal levels, including within the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bill. 

Wiggam will now coordinate and lead state-level habitat efforts in Kansas, ensuring effective and lasting conservation delivery throughout the state’s pheasant and quail range on private and public lands. 

“The Kansas state coordinator position is not a dream job for me – it is who I am and what I have been working toward since the age of eleven when I started volunteering for conservation organizations,” Wiggam said. “My upbringing, education, working relationships, research, and outreach endeavors all focus on supporting ranchers and farmers for implementing conservation-based management that works for them and the wildlife on lands they steward – I’m exceptionally humbled and excited to be given the trust and support to lead our Kansas Team, as well as help drive conservation in the Central Great Plains for The Habitat Organization.” 

For more information about Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever in Kansas, contact Shelly Wiggam at swiggam@pheasantsforever.org.  

About Pheasants Forever and Quail 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 575,000 habitat projects benefiting 24 million acres.

Media Contact
Casey Sill
(402)-657-4143
csill@pheasantsforever.org