Jim and Janice Kelly were already doing their part; now, Working Lands for Wildlife can accelerate their hard work

When Jim and Janice Kelly purchased their 200-acre property near Sylacauga, Alabama, they weren’t necessarily looking to build a showcase wildlife area. They just wanted a place they could care for and manage with intention.

What they initially found was a working landscape shaped by decades of grazing. Much of the ground was compacted pasture with limited plant diversity and little structure for wildlife. Habitat was sparse, and bobwhite quail, once common across the region, were absent.

Today, after nearly two decades of consistent management, the Kellys’ property looks and functions very differently. Cost-share support from USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Working Lands for Wildlife, along with technical assistance from Quail Forever, helped accelerate their stewardship by easing financial burdens and aligning their goals with wildlife habitat. Now, their property booms with native understory, a longleaf pine restoration, and the return of bobwhite quail.

Jim’s interest in land management began long before he owned property. As a teenager, he was introduced to quail hunting by a forester who emphasized stewarding the land as much as running bird dogs. By age 15, Jim had trained his first dog, beginning a lifelong connection to bobwhite quail and the habitats they depend on.

Like most people in the Southeast, he watched wild quail populations decline over the years. That experience shaped how he approached landownership later in life, not just as an opportunity for recreation, but as a responsibility.

“We started with no knowledge of how to be land managers,” Jim said. “We just knew that we wanted to be good stewards and leave the land better than we found it.” 

That mindset became the foundation for everything the Kellys would do on their property. 

Through early EQIP cost-share funding, the Kellys planted longleaf pines on roughly half their property, chosen for its historical presence in the southeast and compatibility with bobwhite management. The remaining acres were maintained in open, early successional habitat.

Jim said prescribed fire became the property’s most important management tool. Applied consistently and rotationally, fire helped reduce woody encroachment, stimulate native grasses and forbs and maintain the open structure needed for quail and other wildlife to thrive.

As their habitat matured, management shifted from establishment to refinement, a phase where WLFW played a key role. Using WLFW cost-share funding, the Kellys’ conservation plan expanded to include more prescribed fire, pollinator plantings, disking and invasive species control.

Jessica Parker, Alabama Quail Forever farm bill biologist, said WLFW is instrumental in helping landowners sustain momentum over time. Through NRCS practices, Parker said she’s seen the Kellys’ property take shape through the years.

“What I love about this property is they have a mosaic going on,” Parker said. “There’s brood rearing habitat next to some escape cover, and they’re burning at different times. There are different stages of growth out here, and the quail have a little bit of everything within close range; they can skip around wherever they need at the time.”

After years of habitat work, Jim began encountering coveys while walking the property and hearing whistles in the spring. Their presence confirmed what the Kellys hoped to see: that the land was responding to their hard work at providing nesting cover, brood habitat and escape cover.

Quail weren’t the only species reproducing either. Deer and turkeys became more common; wood ducks nested on the properties and pollinators increased as native plants returned.

“It’s all about the small wins, that’s what keeps you going,” Jim said. “You’re riding around, and you see two quail dart in front of you, you see a hen with her poults, or you see a flower you planted that wasn’t here before. It’s like, okay, this is working. Let’s stay after it.”

Jim and Janice said the habitat management is never finished. They hope to keep working hard on their property, tackling invasive species, burning and disking. As they get older, they said they think more about sustainability, not just for the land, but for the people who will care for it in the future, like their daughters and grandchildren.

“Every time my grandchildren tell me they want to visit the farm, it’s just more motivation for me to get out there and keep working,” Jim said.

The Kellys said they hope the land will continue to serve as an example of what’s possible when producer goals and wildlife management work together. He believes private landowners play a critical role in the future of bobwhite quail, and that success depends on patience and the willingness to adapt.