Tom was a founding member of the chapter. He served on the projects committee for several years and annually on the banquet committee. He sincerely believed in the mission of pheasants forever and was a life member of the organization. He improved the habitat on his own land for the pheasant and other "wildlife by establishing a woody cover tree planting, a wildlife food plot, grass nesting cover and a wildlife restoration.

In the early years, he served on the education committee and helped this chapter gain recognition in the community. At one time, he was a high school teacher himself and believed in educating the hunter and general public on what PF was all about. As a hunter, he was responsible and respectful of the resource and believed hunters should be educated in the same.

Tom passed away on May 25, 2003, at the young age of 60 years. Proceeds from the Tom Lehtinen raffle will be used exclusively for chapter education projects. Funds could be used for sending students to the Deep Portage Upland Bird Camp, teachers to PF’s Leopold Project seminars, and scholarships to college students studying to enter the field of Natural Resource Management or similar projects. This raffle will be an annual event with the goal to build funds to make a meaningful impact to the chapter’s education program. Thank you to the Lehtinen family for making this possible.

The chapter awards $500.00 scholarship to a graduating high school senior every spring. The chapter also allocated $500.00 to the area Envirothon. The Envirothon is a competitive outdoor learning event for high school students. Current members of the Education and Scholarship Committee are: Tom Cooper, Jeff Hedtke, Scott Scheele and Randy Wendland. Do you know of an area graduating high school student interested in a natural resources related career?