Midwest Fish & Wildlife Agencies
Renew Support for NBCI
The Midwest Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) recently renewed its support of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI). The action follows the beta release of a massive revision of the initiative on March 17 at the North American Wildlife & Natural Resources Conference in Kansas City and a similar renewal of support by the Northeast Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies on April 19.
An organization of agencies from 13 states and three Canadian provinces, MAFWA voted to integrate the initiative into their respective bird and habitat conservation initiatives to the extent practical, and to work with other regional organizations to chart a long-term course for the nation to foster greater collaboration in managing resident game birds across state and regional boundaries.
Essentially a range-wide prescription for bobwhite recovery, NBCI 2.0 includes a thorough update and analysis of the bobwhite’s situation, a survey and classification of 600 million acres of landscape across the bobwhite range, and inventories 195 million acres of priority landscapes where bobwhite and grasslands conservation have a relatively high potential of success. It also prescribes specific management actions necessary for those acres to achieve respective state bobwhite population goals, and identifies specific keys to success, such as the addition and management of diverse native grasses and wildflowers to agricultural fields, pasture lands and forests.
NBCI 2.0 includes a massive database with an array of custom digital applications – the NBCI Conservation Planning Tool (CPT) – that helps bobwhite biologists quickly analyze habitat prospects at regional, state, county or landowner levels, and plan and implement projects for the greatest return on investment.
Paired with the online plan and tools for implementation is a small NBCI staff to help generate support for state efforts and, over time, help states address constraints to bobwhite recovery at a range-wide or national level.
To read MAFWA’s complete resolution, click HERE.
Headquartered at the University of Tennessee, NBCI is a project of the National Bobwhite Technical Committee (NBTC) to elevate bobwhite quail recovery from an individual state-by-state proposition to a range-wide, policy-level leadership endeavor. The committee is comprised of representatives of state fish and wildlife agencies, academic research institutions and non-governmental conservation organizations. NBCI is funded by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, two dozen state wildlife management agencies, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and Southern Company. For more information, please visit www.bringbackbobwhites.org
