‘…There are no silver bullets and chasing red herrings is costing us dearly.’
It is arguable that a person could not be in this quail business without being an optimist (or perhaps delusional). Many well-intended folks threw in the quail towel years ago. But “diehards” remain. In the articles I have written over the years I have always tried to focus on the positives. My fear was that too much pessimism would cause the few remaining quail enthusiasts to abandon ship.
But “rose colored glasses” are not doing us any favors in quail recovery. The situation is dire, and in spite of enormous efforts, quail continue to decline in all 25 states that comprise the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI).
There are bright spots.
- Large portions of Texas are reporting increased quail numbers this year largely due to favorable weather (In parts of Texas, when it rains, it pours quail).
- Portions of western Kansas, where hundreds of thousands of acres of native mixed prairie abound, still harbor impressive quail populations.
- And in north Florida and south Georgia, across over 350,000 acres of quail oriented conservation easements primarily under the supervision of Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, bobwhites are doing exceedingly well. This is a result of intensive management on a large scale.
- And even in Virginia, in portions of counties where years of conservation work overlap with favorable timber management practices, quail thrive.
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But in much of the rest of the heavily populated eastern seaboard, the decline continues at rate of between 4% and 7% per year. It’s time to take off the rose colored glasses, wipe those lenses clean, take a stiff drink of coffee and look at the situation with a degree of realism. To do less is a disservice not only to the bobwhites themselves, but to those of us who work hard under duress trying to do the impossible.
That is correct. I said it. The bobwhite quail is not going to be restored to the entire state of Virginia in my lifetime. I have heard repeatedly now for decades “we did it for deer, bear, turkey, geese (on some levels) and other species, why not quail?”
First of all – these species did not come back overnight. When you examine the history, it took 50 to 75 years of concerted efforts on the part of many entities to “bring back” these great animals. Further, the landscape we live in today, largely by accident, favors deer, turkey, bear and other animals far more so than quail, grouse, woodcock or golden-winged warblers. And this is not likely to improve on a large scale (there are some “unlesses” I’ll talk about in a minute).
If you examine human population growth and growing global demand for food, fiber and wood products it won’t take you long to figure out that forestry and agricultural intensity is going to increase. This means “cleaner and cleaner” farms and timber plantations, and by “clean” I mean cleaned of competitors for water and nutrients. In short, things that compete with crops and pine trees like blackberry, broom sedge, partridge pea, plum, sumac, beggar weed – those things that landowners tend to want to bush-hog, or spray to control, will be reduced on our landscape. And of course these same things serve as critical habitat for dozens of declining species like quail. Our dilemma as humans is that we are always pitting our short term gains as individuals against our long-term survival as a species. And big money tends to cloud our view of anything beyond the next decade.
So what keeps me in this game? What allows me to continue to go for it on 4th and 6? It’s the “unlesses” I mentioned.
One great thing is most of the land in Virginia is privately owned by individuals. This means that they can make choices that favor quail if they choose to. The big money entities cannot force landowners to manage their land any particular way. Quail will continue to decline in my home state unless a major campaign is undertaken to educate “the masses” to the value of thickets, weeds, native grasses, wildflowers and brush.
Much as we have educated generations to value mature forests and wetlands, we must educate current generations of landowners about the value of transitional habitats. Landowners must come to know they have choices and what those choices are.
For example, fall mowing (Bush-hogging) runs rampant over Virginia every year. By simply changing the mowing to late winter or early spring (February to early March), and not mowing it all every year (but mowing in rotation, 1/2 or 1/3 annually), positive changes will be seen in your wildlife populations.
If you sometimes substitute disking for mowing, even more results will be seen. Or instead of relying totally on cool
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season, non-native forage grasses like fescue, as a landowner you make the decision to convert 20% of your forage base to native warm season grasses, mixed with legumes, you will become part of something bigger than yourself.
And consider that when you are deciding how to prepare to replant your recently clear-cut pines, you choose less intense herbicide options. Yes, this may cost you 5% or 10% of your future timber income, but you may be OK with that if you know your choice benefits bobwhite quail. I am optimistic that landowners will make good choices when they know what those choices are and what the costs are.
So what does our quail recovery effort hope to accomplish? Why not give up if we feel widespread recovery is not likely in the short term? Because it can be done in the long term if we do not give up. Our goal now is to “hold the line” in as many places as possible. We are trying to build some pockets of wider success (in keeping with NBCI’s Focal Tiers concepts and to demonstrate that it can be done with habitat), and establish some source quail populations in areas where they are nearly extirpated.
Our quail efforts are focused for a reason, and what we do now we hope will set the stage for wider scale recovery when landowners are awakened and excited about the choices they can make on a large scale to impact our environment for decades to come.
There are no silver bullets and chasing red herrings is costing us dearly. The time is now to refocus on spreading the message on a grand scale, sparing no expense, that transitional habitats matter.
