Check for banquets in your area:

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

Regional Habitat Programs

Operation SOS

Operation SOS (Set Out Seedlings), helps provide important winter food sources for wild turkeys and other wildlife in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. Over the past six years, NWTF chapters in these states and provinces have enhanced 1.5 million acres of habitat by planting mast-producing shrubs and trees for wildlife. Sponsors: Wolverine Power Cooperative, American Transmission Company, USDA Forest Service, NWTF local chapters


Operation Big Sky

Operation Big Sky is the NWTF's flagship habitat program for wildlife in the northern Great Plains. Through the Big Sky program, NWTF chapters plant mast-producing shrubs, help provide standing grain and help ranchers that winter large numbers of turkeys on their property. Since 2001, chapters in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and the Dakotas have enhanced 829,422 acres of habitat for wild turkeys and other wildlife. Sponsors: Marathon, Miller Brewing Company, NWTF local chapters

Guzzlers For Gobblers

The Guzzlers for Gobblers program enhances habitat in arid areas in the west. Projects funded through this program include developing water catchments, improving riparian habitat, enhancing natural springs, installing water guzzlers and planting wildlife-friendly seedlings. Chapters in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Oklahoma, along with cooperators, have spent more than $3.5 million to enhance 2 million acres of wildlife habitat.
Sponsors: NWTF local chapters

Operation Heartland

Operation Heartland aims to restore bottomland hardwoods and riparian corridors in the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River valleys. Chapters in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma have enhanced more than 1 million acres by planting oak and green ash seedlings. Sponsors: DeltAg Wildlife, Miller Brewing Company, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Forest Service, NWTF local chapters


Operation Oak

Operation Oak is dedicated to restoring and creating oak habitats throughout the Southeast. Since its inception, chapters and landowners in the southeast have planted 480,000 oak seedlings that provide important food sources for southeastern wildlife. Sponsors: DeltAg Wildlife, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Resource Management Service, MeadWestvaco, Weyerhauser, USDA Forest Service, NWTF Local Chapters.

To download a package for an Operation Oak memo and seedling request form for a chapter click here.

Click on the following links to download a seedling request package.

Operation Appleseed

Operation Appleseed provides important winter foods for wildlife in the snowy Northeast. Chapters from West Virginia to Maine plant crabapples each fall to benefit songbirds, grouse, wild turkeys and other species. Nearly 76,000 acres of wildlife habitat has been enhanced through Operation Appleseed. Sponsors: Central Vermont Public Service, Vermont Electric Power Company, L.L. Bean, USDA Forest Service, NWTF local chapters

Southern Great Plains Riparian Initiative

Started in 2001, the Southern Great Plains Riparian Initiative is the latest in the NWTF's regional habitat programs. The mission of this program is to restore and maintain wooded zones in the southern Great Plains by assisting landowners and communities with management efforts. States participating in the program include Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. Sponsors: Miller Brewing Company, BASF, Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife Conservation, Local NWTF Chapters

Northern Plains Riparian Restoration Initiative

With the success of the Southern Great Plains Riparian Initiative, the NWTF created the Northern Plains Riparian Restoration Initiative to enhance riparian habitat in the Northern Great Plains. Through this program, the NWTF and its cooperators have spent $20,000 to enhance habitat along streams and rivers in the Northern Plains states. Sponsors: BASF, Miller Brewing Company, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation



For more information on any of these programs, contact the NWTF at
(800) THE-NWTF.