Partners in Habitat Development Program
The largest and most successful habitat initiative of the Pheasants Forever Calgary chapter was the Partners in Habitat Development program (PHD). Founded in 1998 by Pheasants Forever Calgary and the Eastern Irrigation District (EID) located in Brooks, the program helped to redevelop and enhance wildlife habitat throughout the cultivated regions of southern Alberta, primarily on private land. Six of the largest irrigation districts in southern Alberta participated in the program representing over 1.1 million acres of land. Over 300 landowners (on over 500 different project sites) have invited the PHD program to implement planting, fencing and irrigation canal rehabilitation projects on their land to help increase the quality and quantity of wildlife habitat. Between 1998 and 2009, the PHD program had positively influenced over 35,000 acres of upland wildlife habitat by planting over 735,000 trees and shrubs, seeded 800 acres to permanent grass cover, installed over 147 kilometers of fencing on 140 projects, installed 43 water deliveries to enhance or create 15 wetland basins.