The National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) has launched a new, feature-packed website as the central hub for public information regarding the integrated 25-state effort to restore plummeting populations of the native northern bobwhite quail.
While the original website had copious amounts of good information, the new site is more user-friendly, allowing easier access to basic bobwhite information, the conservation challenges found in key land use settings and NBCI’s strategies in confronting those challenges on regional and national levels.
Notable additions include specific pages dedicated to forests and woodlands, grasslands/grazing lands, croplands and prescribed fire, as well as the introduction of new blogs by NBCI staff to highlight issues, opportunities and experiences in their fields of expertise.
In addition to “From the Farmhouse to the White House” by NBCI Director Don McKenzie, “Shell’s Covert” blog by Virginia’s quail coordinator Marc Puckett and “MOQuail” by the Missouri Department of Conservation, NBCI Grasslands Coordinator Jef Hodges has launched the “Native Grass Gazette” blog. Hodges’ blog is designed to promote native vegetation, its wise management and role in our environment and society, as well as pass along news in the native grass/prescribed fire world. Upcoming blog additions will include “Beltway Bobwhites,” by NBCI’s Washington, D.C. agriculture liaison, Tom Franklin, and “Sunlight, Fire and Quail,” by NBCI Forestry Coordinator Steve Chapman. The Bobwhite Library also features a reorganized “Reference Room” for easier and more targeted browsing.
“The new website will continue to evolve as we find new and different ways to support wild bobwhite restoration and the efforts of the 25 NBCI states that are the backbone of the effort,” said NBCI Director Don McKenzie. “I think there will be some pleasant surprises in store.”
Those interested in following the 25-state effort can easily register on the website for emailed updates of NBCI news releases, news items of note from around the nation and latest blog postings.
Headquartered at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, NBCI is an initiative of the National Bobwhite Technical Committee (NBTC) to elevate bobwhite quail recovery from an individual state-by-state proposition to a coordinated, range-wide leadership endeavor. The committee is comprised of representatives of 25 state wildlife agencies, various academic research institutions and private conservation organizations. Support for NBCI is provided by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program, state wildlife agencies, the University of Tennessee and Park Cities Quail. For more information, please visit www.bringbackbobwhites.org and find us on Facebook, YouTube and Slideshare.
