RD33 - A Report on the Progress by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to Preserve the Northern Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus)


Executive Summary:
Populations of northern bobwhite quail and other bird species with related habitat requirements have experienced severe long-term declines in Virginia over the past 50 years. For perhaps 200 years or more, quail were one of the most common birds of rural Virginia. During the first half of the 20th century, as a shift from a rural-farm to urban-industrial economy began, idled and abandoned farms continued to support quail populations but a noticeable decline in quail populations from historical highs was observed by the mid-1920s.

For the past four decades, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) has strived to maintain a comprehensive bobwhite quail research and management program. These efforts were accelerated after the Virginia General Assembly requested the department to assess the bobwhite quail situation in 1988. This review led to the VDGIF creating what was the nation's first statewide quail recovery plan in 1996. The first quail plan specifically addressed eleven major factors identified in the review as contributing to quail decline and met with some success, but budgetary restrictions brought that effort to a close prematurely.

In 2007, the department began working on a second major quail effort, the Quail Recovery Initiative (QRI) which was adopted by the VDGIF Board of Director's in June, 2009. Recognizing the Virginia landscape has changed dramatically over the last 40 years and statewide quail recovery is not likely, current efforts are built around focal areas where quail conservation can be targeted in places where it has a chance to succeed. The goals of the Quail Recovery Initiative are to build on these existing focal areas where quail numbers and habitat remain favorable to long term population stability, establish source populations of bobwhites in areas where they have been largely extirpated, engage partners and other states, and educate Virginians about the value of early successional habitats and species.

In 2010, the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) was started throughout the entire bobwhite's twenty-five state range. VDGIF staff has played an important leadership role in working with both the NBCI technical committee and management board.

While much has been accomplished in the 5 years of the Quail Recovery Initiative, over the past year the department has conducted an extensive review of the QRI which included internal agency input meetings, meetings with the Director's Quail Advisory Group (members listed on page 31), solicited input from the Virginia Quail Council (members listed on page 7), and web based surveys of quail partners and landowners. From this review, VDGIF staff has developed below a list of recommended strategies.

Recommended strategies to achieve the goal of preserving the Virginia bobwhite quail population

The following strategies will require commitments from multiple state agencies, partners, and legislators, but it is the department's belief that they will provide the greatest overall impacts for quail:

• develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for appropriate state agencies to manage their lands for early succession wildlife habitat,

• a strategy to encourage counties to allow a wildlife conservation property tax valuation for lands converted to wildlife habitat,

• a cooperative strategy among affected parties to change the current policies relating to prescribed burning in the Commonwealth in order to allow for a safe increase in the use of prescribed fire as a land management tool,

• a comprehensive strategy among all appropriate state agencies to develop a marketing campaign that raises awareness of the plight of early successional habitat and the associated wildlife species.

In addition, the department will take the lead in pursuing the following strategies as part of the ongoing Quail Recovery Initiative:

• develop a comprehensive marketing plan to publicize the plight of early successional habitat and its own efforts on their behalf,

• continue employment of the private lands wildlife biologists with the possibility of expansion dependent on state budget,

• research into new quail reintroduction techniques,

• develop a prescribed fire awareness campaign potentially in conjunction with the Virginia Prescribed Fire Council, the VDOF, The U.S. Forest Service and other partners,

• redouble efforts to expand on existing habitat creation successes,

• develop a comprehensive strategy for working with the forest products industry,

• develop a quail and early-succession wildlife management academy, similar to the VDOF prescribed burners academy held annually,

• re-examine the hiring 1 or 2 staff on a part time basis to work under the supervision of the State Forest management supervisors with some guidance from VDGIF,

• work with military base personnel to help them better promote the enormous amount of early-succession habitat work they do,

• work with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to develop programs for early successional wildlife including "quail in the classroom", a quail hunter mentor program, and a program that promotes hunter access.

A more comprehensive review of these strategies can be found on pages 33-38 of this report.

VDGIF's ongoing efforts demonstrate the department's commitment to quail recovery in Virginia. Concerted, long-term efforts and partnerships among those who value the bobwhite quail will be the key to a successful recovery initiative.