Welcome to the website of the Iowa State Chapter of the NWTF
2024 Iowa State Turkey pins are available now - contact Gary Reeder - gary.reeder@gmail.com
Click the links at the top of the page to find your NWTF field staff and local chapter contacts and when and where to find your local NWTF events. You'll also find links to the National NWTF web site and other web sites that have interesting information for Iowa sportsmen.
What is the NWTF?
The NWTF — a national nonprofit organization — is the leader in upland wildlife habitat conservation in North America.
Founded in 1973, the NWTF is headquartered in Edgefield, S.C., and has local chapters in every state.
The NWTF is dedicated to the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.
Through vital partnerships with state, federal and provincial wildlife agencies, the NWTF and our members have helped restore wild turkey populations throughout North America — from a mere 30,000 in the entire United States to more than 7 million across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Mission Delivery at a Landscape Level
Accomplishing conservation delivery on a scale necessary to turn the tide of diminishing wild turkey populations, growing dangers of catastrophic wildfire, flood events and other threats to our nation’s vital watersheds, forests, grasslands and communities is accomplished through partnerships and honing in on our Four Shared Values. The NWTF created or joined national and regional initiatives and landscape-scale projects to slow the loss of habitat and improve habitat diversity, forest health, pine management, water quality, winter wildlife survival, healthy hardwood forests and riparian areas and to restore oak woodlands, savannas and prairies.
These initiatives and projects are comprised of diverse stakeholders and channel efforts to increase pace, scale and efficacy of our combined conservation efforts across public and private lands. In the spirit of the USDA’s Shared Stewardship Strategy, calling all hands and all lands into the effort, these large-scale, multi-stakeholder, cross-boundary initiatives are the future of conservation delivery, and the NWTF is at the forefront in forging innovative partnerships and contributing where other partners are leading the way to better serve our nation’s vital water resources, forests, wildlife habitat, communities and recreational opportunities.
Moving Forward
Just like the wild turkey in today’s age, we are facing new conservation challenges in a dynamic landscape. We are expanding our efforts by honing in on four shared values that will remain at the core of delivering conservation to scale into the future.
From the smallest conservation project, to our multimillion-acre landscape-scale initiatives, our Four Shared Values are evident in all we do and have allowed the NWTF, our partners and volunteers to increase the breadth of our mission and ultimately make an impact on a landscape scale, empowering our organization to conserve the wild turkey and our hunting heritage into perpetuity.
Stemming from and pointing back to the wild turkey, our Four Shared Values are all interconnected:
Clean Water: Water is the lifeblood for all living things on planet earth, and as many turkey hunters know, if there is water nearby, so are turkeys. While water availability is crucial for wild turkeys, it is valuable for all wildlife and nearby human communities. Wildfires, disrupted floodplains, unmanaged forests, a changing climate — there are numerous reasons why we are seeing water quality and availability diminish. Luckily, much of the conservation work the NWTF and its partners delivers not only benefits wild turkeys, but it creates healthier forests, which, in turn, create healthier watersheds, creating cleaner and more available water throughout the country.
Healthy Forests and Wildlife Habitat: When we manage a forest for wild turkey habitat, we are also increasing the overall viable habitat for all wildlife. Scientifically backed forest management is more crucial now than ever. Decades of unmanaged forests have resulted in overly dense conditions, which provides poor habitat and comes with severe ramifications, such as catastrophic wildfires and fragmented habitat. A managed forest, on the other hand, increases the overall habitat for wild turkeys and the overall biodiversity while making the managed area more resilient to catastrophic wildfires and other disturbances.
Resilient Communities: Americans who want to live amidst nature should be able to do so without the worry of catastrophic wildfire, flash flooding or debris flow events. Increasingly, catastrophic wildfires are spreading from uninhabited forests to nearby human communities. This, too, is the result of unmanaged forests, particularly in the wildland-urban interface [areas where forests meet human communities]. The NWTF has joined forces with many traditional and non-traditional partners and agencies to protect these communities while also increasing viable wildlife habitat.
Robust Recreational Opportunities: At the NWTF, we know the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation to be the preeminent mode to conserve our natural resources, and we understand the important interplay between hunters and conservation. A deep sense of reverence for conservation is awake in the soul of the American hunter, and the more we can provide access and opportunities, the more we can deliver and amplify our conservation and hunting heritage mission. However, there are many other groups — such as mountain bikers, whitewater rafters, anglers, bird watchers and so many more — that cherish our natural resources as we do. By creating robust recreational opportunities for hunters and all outdoors enthusiasts, we provide more opportunities for collaboration, shared investment and ultimately a farther-reaching conservation impact and ability to share our outdoors lifestyle.
About Us
We, along with our partners in conservation, actively manage our precious natural resources for our kids and grand kids and for the future of the wild turkey and all wildlife in Iowa.
We recruit all kinds of hunters through our hunter education programs and mentored hunts. We support public hunting access through lease programs. We address legislative issues that impact hunter access and we work with landowners to provide greater access for hunting.
We embrace all outdoor enthusiasts of any age and encourage anyone to become a member of our growing family. We believe in knowing where our food comes from and we value what we eat. We work tirelessly to preserve our precious natural resources for all, especially our kids, our grand kids and generations to come.
We believe the outdoors is for everyone to enjoy.
Iowa is part of America’s Crossroads in the NWTF’s America’s Big Six of Wildlife Conservation. NWTF Iowa is committed to improve water quality and forest health and restore grasslands.