Frankfort, KY (November 1, 2004) - The Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative plans in the coming years to engage private landowners to conduct extensive northern bobwhite quail management in Kentucky and other states in the bird’s range. The goal of the initiative is to increase the population of northern bobwhite quail by 2.7 million coveys.

"It is a range-wide initiative encompassing many of the states in the range of the northern bobwhite quail," said John Morgan, upland game biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "Twenty-two states are involved and that number is growing." The goal in Kentucky is to increase northern bobwhite quail numbers by 135,000 coveys.

"This initiative is habitat based, not planting or translocating birds," Morgan explained. "It is much harder than restoring deer and turkey. Deer and turkey are much more adaptable than quail. Quail require intensive, long-range management to bring their numbers back."

The Northern Bobwhite Quail Initiative grew out of findings of the Southeast Quail Study Group, a collection of 100 wildlife professionals formed in 1995 to identify reasons for the serious decline in northern bobwhite quail numbers.

Northern bobwhite quail populations dropped 65 percent throughout its range in the last 20 years, mainly in the southeastern United States. There were nearly 60 million northern bobwhite quail in the United States in 1980. There are roughly 20 million now.

"We used to have small farms that did things that benefited quail as part of normal agricultural practices," Morgan explained. "There was a lot less fescue. They used to let portions of their farms go fallow and they rotated crops around to different areas. Now, most of the small farms are gone and they double crop in the same field."

Modern farming techniques emphasize maximum production for all available cropland. This often means fence row to fence row crops that abut a mature woodlot. Overgrown fence rows and scrubby field borders make fantastic quail rearing habitat, but these practices destroy it.

"The problem landowners have is that quail management is just not tidy," Morgan said. "What they prefer is a mowed field right next to a mature woodlot.

That is what is appealing to them. Quail habitat is not aesthetically pleasing unless you are a biologist or a quail hunter. Overgrown areas look unkempt to people."

Like modern agriculture, mowing destroys good quail nesting and rearing habitat. Also, landowners are usually mowing fescue, a grass that forms a heavy sod and hinders quail movement. Fescue out-competes native weeds that provide seeds and insects for quail to eat. The heavy sod provides little protection from predators, such as red-tailed hawks.

"We have to get private landowners to conduct habitat management on their lands," Morgan explained. "Not just once, but in perpetuity."

For more information on the Northern Bobwhite Quail Initiative, call John Morgan at 1-800-858-1549.