Habitat/Land Management
The backbone of Quail Forever is the unique system of county chapters that provides incentive for chapter leaders to raise money for pheasant habitat in their own area. All net funds (100%) raised by chapters remains at the local level.
Local control of the funds and the freedom to spend those funds means county-by-county prioritization of habitat needs. Local control means access to the network of contacts that chapter leaders have to the landowning public and to natural resources professionals. Local control means there is an incredible incentive to raise more to do more, and to wisely shepherd funds. Local control also means the ability to generate tremendous support from both the general membership and local businesses by presenting a product that local sportsmen and women can see, touch and walk on.
As an open country bird species, quail have the ability to range all over North America. They are able to adapt to a vast array of climates, from Canada to the gulf coast and from the east coast to Colorado. Unfortunately, quail populations have drastically declined over the last 30 years due to a lack of habitat. Quail need grasslands, bare ground, seed-producing plants and shrubs for nesting, food and cover. Urban sprawl and an increase in intensified agriculture have resulting in the largest decrease of quail habitat. Quail Forever concentrates its habitat project efforts on fulfilling the biological needs of the bobwhite, as well as on the preservation of permanent areas for other wildlife. Keep reading for more information on quail habitat structure.
The following information was generously contributed from "On the Edge" a publication of the Conservation Commission of Missouri
Crop Fields
Quail need a vast array of types of food in their diet to be thriving during the winter months and to have a high reproductive year during the growing season. This diet consists of crops such as corn, milo, millet, sorghum, sunflowers and soybeans. Receiving a wide variety of these nutrients allows for quail to meet all of their energy needs.
In places with very few types of grassland it is necessary that crop fields use a variety of applications for cropping in order to assist quail populations.
Some examples include:
- Strip cropping - 50 to 100 foot grass strips allow for greater nesting and brood rearing.
- Plant and rotate quail-friendly crops - Crops such as cotton, rice and cucumbers provide few benefits to quail. Rotate various crops such as those listed above. The crops that provide the greatest benefits for quail are corn and milo.
- Create Buffers - These protect against soil erosion as well as provide nesting, brooding and roosting habitat.
- Use less herbicides - herbicides that eradicate all weeds are great for crops, but not for quail. Eliminate use of herbicides on the outer two rows of your fields that allows for quail cover and protection.
- Over-seed winter wheat - Leave the field idle after harvest. This allows for a great brood habitat during the latter summer months and winter.
Grasslands
Grasslands were the primary source of nesting and brooding for quail, when their populations were at climax. Today, grasslands are fewer and far between, but when managed properly it can be used successfully for the improvement of quail populations.
There are a variety of ways in which you can protect and maintain your pastures and grassland for quail populations. If not maintained tall-fescue pastures can be extremely harmful for quail. These can be maintained by planting and protected various shrubs, not mowing your pastures, grazing and over-seeding to encourage seed-producing plants for quail food and disking to reduce tall fescue.
Additional type's grasslands include cool and warm season pasture grasses as well as cool and warm season grass hayfields, all of which provide excellent habitat for quail. These can be maintained in a variety of ways. Planting different varieties of grasses, three-four year burning intervals, controlling woody invaders and planting native legumes and wildflowers allow for a great range of diversity in nesting and brooding cover for quail populations.
Forest and Woodlands
Essential for a quail's winter cover, forest and woodlands are great places for quail to remain concealed and covered from predators as well. Maintain a good forest edge of briars, brambles, grasses and weeds that are ideal for quail on the edge of forests. You can also plant blackberry, plum, greenbriar, coral berry, sumac, grape and rough-leaved dogwood along the outside edge. Allow the forest canopy to be broken in order to establish lower growing plants. This can be done in woodland areas through forest thinning.
Idle Areas
Many landowners have idle areas in which land cannot be used for cropland, grazing or haying. These areas can be great assets for quail. They must be maintained and still need disturbance to stay productive for quail. Tall fescue crowds quail and can be removed by using limited herbicides, burning or disking areas. Trees also should be thinned out to allow for greater quail habitat. Too many trees shades out grasses, shrubs, native legumes, wildflowers and annual weeds which quail utilize for cover.
Fencerows and Drainages
Additional habitat for quail can be in fencerows and drainage ditches if it is left undisturbed and populated with fescue, brome and trees. Maintain these by trimming hedges and spraying fescue and trees. Spot spray invading trees and fescue in the fall or spring. Finally, leave your brush piles to provide immediate cover for quail. These allow for quail to walk through, but inhibit large animals from doing the same.
Savannas
Savannas consist of a scattering of post and blackjack oak trees or short-leaf pine trees as well as variety of shrubs. Ground cover allows for quail to thrive in these areas where grass, legumes and wildflowers are highly abundant. Savannas appear less often than ever and restoring them is hard work. Cutting trees and allowing for periodic burning are the best ways to establish this form of quail habitat.
Recent Habitat News
Introducing "Signature Series" Food & Cover Mixes from Quail Forever
February 09, 2010
Nobody knows wildlife habitat better than "The Habitat Organization," and just in time for the spring planting season, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever introduce its new Signature Series line of food & cover seed mixes. Developed by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever wildlife biologists, the Signature Series mixes are field-tested and proven to meet the food and cover needs of pheasants, quail, doves, deer, turkeys, and other upland wildlife.
...moreFeed Your Next Habitat Project, Not the Quail
January 12, 2010
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and other northern reaches of the bobwhite quail range experienced harsh winter conditions at the end of 2009 and into early 2010. Because winter weather will always be a factor in these areas, Quail Forever points to NOW as the right time to start planning food & cover habitat projects for quail.
...moreHalf Million Acres of Habitat Work for "The Habitat Organization" in '09
January 12, 2010
The 621 Pheasants Forever chapters, 103 Quail Forever chapters and 125,000 members of "The Habitat Organization" nationwide completed over 22,000 wildlife habitat projects in 2009, benefitting over 500,000 acres for pheasants, quail and other wildlife. This includes over 8,300 acres of land acquired and then opened to public hunting and recreation as state-managed wildlife areas or federal Waterfowl Production Areas.
...moreQF Adds Four Farm Bill Experts to Deliver Conservation Programs in Iowa
November 05, 2009
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have expanded its Farm Bill Biologist program into the state of Iowa with the hiring of four new positions. The new Farm Bill Biologist positions cover nine counties and will improve how conservation programs are delivered to landowners and producers. The positions come at an especially critical juncture for Iowa, where over 450,000 acres have expired from the wildlife-friendly Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the past five years.
...moreQF Guardedly Optimistic about Recent USDA Comments Concerning CRP
October 15, 2009
Recently, high ranking officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture spoke at public forums in support of the Conservation Reserve Program's (CRP) wildlife benefits and the need to protect the program's legacy. While the verbal support for CRP may signal that hunter's messages are being heard within the halls of USDA, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever says now is not the time to rest easy. Just last month, USDA announced that one of their policy options under consideration is to drop CRP enrollment to 24 million acres nationwide.
...more
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