[TN-Bird] Shrikes and Quail - A War on Wildlife
- From: "Scott Somershoe" <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:16:55 -0600
There are a lot of private land programs for managing for native warm season
grasses along field borders. In particular, look up Conservation Practice 33
(CP33). NRCS spearheaded this program with private landowners (mainly
farmers).
Some info here:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/nri/ceap/wildlifeworkplan/cp33monitor.html
I don't know the numbers of acres planted in grass, but it was pretty
extensive, especially in the western half of the state where we can make a
difference in quail numbers. For the last 3 years, TWRA and other biologists
have surveyed these sites (with unplanted controls for comparison) for quail
and other priority non-game birds (Henslow's, Grasshopper Sparrows, etc.) and
found positive effects of the land use practice on quail and other species. I
haven't seen a final report, but I have seen some nice analyses and
presentations of preliminary data. Pretty complicated actually with a lot of
variables to deal with.
How far reaching these results are, I don't know. It is, however, a good way
to get the message about conservation out there to the private land owners who
are the ones that can make the real difference in the quail's world, plus it
has local erosion control benefits. This decline is everyone's problem and can
be reversed. In Missouri, they have quail focal areas and have done extensive
restoration of habitat. After a couple years, they have greatly increased the
number of quail in these areas (which I think are 10-30k acres in a focal
area). They've actually reached their population goals in some of these sites,
which is darned impressive. It can be done, but it isn't easy. TWRA is on its
way to developing these focal areas. Missouri gets way more money than we do
to make these things happen (a percentage of sale tax in MO on outdoor rec
items goes to the agency), so we work with partners a lot to make things happen
on the ground.
Scott
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (o)
601-868-0101 (cell)
615-781-6654 (fax)
"Keeping the rubber side down." -SGS
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