Fort Dodge, Iowa. Heartland Recreation Group a division of Heartland Communications Group, Inc. (Heartland), of Fort Dodge, Iowa and Mr. Tony Bibbs of Des Moines, Iowa are pleased to announce they have came to terms whereby Heartland will purchase from Bibbs the website known as Iowaoutdoors.org. Both parties believe this brings together Iowa’s top hunting & fishing communities with Bibbs, Iowaoutdoors.org and Heartland’s The Iowa Sportsman.

Bibbs started the website Iowaoutdoors.org in 2000 so that Iowa outdoor enthusiasts would have a forum to discuss a mired of topics from ice fishing to quail hunting without overwhelming commercial content. Bibbs stated "It's with mixed feelings that I have chosen to accept this offer from Heartland Recreation Group. Running this site has been a lot of fun, I've met a lot of great people many of whom I call my friend. While it has been fun seeing the site grow far beyond my expectations, the growth and day-to-day management has gotten to a point I no longer feel I am the best person to take the site to the next level. I also see this as an opportunity to free up a considerable amount of my time to spend with my wife and three daughters who have shown tremendous patience and understanding over the past seven years. This will also allow me to focus on getting my girls involved in the outdoors and get me back to pursuing my own outdoors interests. Everybody should see this as a good change! It ensures the site will stay on its current course of providing great online content for hunting and fishing in Iowa and for the Heartland Recreation Group it adds top notch online content to their existing TV, radio and print publications."

Patrick McKinney, Publisher of The Iowa Sportsman’s magazine and producer of The Iowa Sportsman’s Radio indicated, “This is natural fit and our staff is truly excited to bring Iowaoutdoors into our product mix, without a doubt this has enhanced our ability to deliver quality information and services to our growing community of Iowans who love outdoor activities. We want every one of Iowaoutdoors member’s to know we will continue to maintain and improve the experience they have come to enjoy on Iowaoutdoors.com while providing the added content and reach available from The Iowa Sportsman. Tony has produced a great product that has attained significant usage and we fully intend to continue his work.”

Bibbs and Heartland indicated they were working toward an April 1, 2007 closing date and that they will keep both their memberships informed. Also they noted that members should not experience any significant down time on Iowaoutdoors other than a brief period to transfer data from Bibbs to Heartland of which user members will be notified so they can adjust their usage schedule.