Bobwhite quail populations are so depressed in Arkansas that restoring them seems like a fools bet, but a small investment can go a long way.
Kentucky, whose Department of Fish and Wildlife does great things with a fraction of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's budget, is an impressive case study.
In 2010, the KDFW was one of the first states to embrace the goals of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative. Based at the University of Tennessee, the initiative is devoted to restoring bobwhite populations in the 25 states that comprise its native range. The NBCI's executive director, Don McKenzie, lives in Ward and is a seasoned veteran in wildlife management.
Kentucky's success in five years, McKenzie said, proves that large-scale habitat restoration is not only possible, but that it should be considered a model of how to bring back Dixie's most treasured gamebird.
Kentucky used basic habitat renovation techniques such as prescribed burning and herbicides on a large scale, according to an NBCI report released last week. The KDFW also planted native grasses and wildflowers and incorporated cattle grazing, mowing and disking on its five quail focal areas.
Arkansas, in contrast, has one quail focal area, a cooperative effort at Pea Ridge National Battlefield with the National Parks Service.
"In [Kentucky's] five formally monitored quail focus areas, bobwhite increases ranged from 14 percent in the Livingston County Quail Focus Area to 779 percent in the Hart County Quail Focus Area," the report said.
"Kentucky's approach is what the states have agreed, through NBCI, is the appropriate approach to genuine wild bobwhite restoration on a landscape scale," McKenzie said. "Prior failures in numerous states have been typified by small-scale efforts that lacked proper implementation, maintenance and connectivity.
"Kentucky's efforts re-establish native vegetation and replicate or mimic the way people managed that vegetation in earlier times when bobwhites were abundant. I would urge anyone interested in bobwhites ... to study Kentucky's report and take its lessons to heart."
A range of 14 to 779 percent is a vast gulf. KDFW biologists said they were too ambitious in the Livingston County area by trying to restore the entire 40,813-acre parcel at once. By spreading limited resources over such a large area, they were unable to show much progress in five years. That's now a focus landscape, but the actual quail focus area covers about 6,000 acres.
The 779 percent increase in the 20,000-acre Hart County area was the result of widespread landowner participation in the Conservation Reserve Program. Landowners destroyed non-native vegetation and restored native vegetation. The KDFW said it is the largest grassland restoration in Kentucky's history.
There was also a 150-percent quail increase on a 2,855-acre focus area, a 56-percent increase at the KDFW's Peabody Wildlife Management Area focus area, and a 52 percent increase at the Bluegrass Army Depot focus area. The 14,416-acre Clay WMA focus area was not part of the five-year monitoring effort, but biologists say that covey flush rates have increased 300 percent since 2010.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has more money than the KDFW. It is full of progressive, visionary wildlife managers, and they are backed by a supportive and progressive-thinking governing body.
Surely they could find some space for quail on a few WMAs to see if we can replicate the success that Kentucky is enjoying.
Of course, success on WMAs is limited by poor to non-existent habitat on surrounding private land. The public owns the state's wildlife resources, which the state manages in trust. Maybe the legislature could contribute tax incentives for landowners who set aside portions of their property for quail habitat.
Sports on 04/05/2015