THE FLIP SIDE

Quail effort a pilot project for rest of state

The first steps to boosting quail numbers across the state take place here in Northwest Arkansas.

Habitat improvements at Pea Ridge National Military Park are boosting quail numbers at the 4,000-acre Civil War park. Now, wildlife officials want to get private landowners involved

For starters, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is hosting a seminar today for landowners with property next to the national park and who are interested in improving their acreage for quail. Those landowners are already invited. The public is welcome to attend the event at 6 p.m. today at the Northwest Arkansas Community College Shewmaker Center, said Clifton Jackson, quail and small game biologist with Game and Fish. A complimentary dinner will be served.

Landowners with suitable land get practical and financial assistance to improve their property for quail, Jackson said.

There are three main things landowners can do. One is to have fence rows, edge borders or patches of native grass on the property. Getting rid of nonnative grass such as fescue and planting native grass types will benefit quail and other birds. Prescribed burning is also helpful. Game and Fish can help with all those steps, Jackson said.

Areas don't have to be large. As little as five percent of a total pasture is a big help. Native grasses are good all wildlife, Jackson added, and it's good grazing forage for cattle.

This Northwest Arkansas effort is the first of similar programs planned statewide. Right now, Game and Fish wants to work mainly with landowners who live near Pea Ridge National Military Park, since the project is already going on there. Landowners elsewhere with suitable habitat can be part of the campaign. Contact Levi Horrell, the region's private-land biologist with Game and Fish, at 418-9973 for details.

Areas of cedar forest at the military park are being converted to grasslands to restore the park to its appearance in 1862 when the Battle of Pea Ridge was fought. Quail numbers have improved at the park and these birds will migrate to adjacent private land.

The mission is to bring back the bobwhite quail, a bird people enjoy seeing, hearing and hunting. Biologist Horrell said the nearest places with good quail hunting are western Oklahoma, a few spots in west-central and northern Missouri and some areas of Texas. Quail numbers are hurting in all those states, he said. Loss of habitat to development is the culprit that is cited most in the decline of the bobwhite quail.

The more landowners who get involved, the more successful the project will be, Horrell said.

Sports on 05/28/2015

Upcoming Events