The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Ohio office recently announced a statewide volunteer effort to preserve upland bird habitats. That’s in response to a steady decline in those habitats over the past several years.
Ohio upland bird species include wild turkeys, the northern bobwhite quail, the ruffed grouse and ring-necked pheasant — most of which are used for game during certain hunting seasons in Ohio.
Habitats in decline
Over the last several years, some of those species populations have been in decline. The bobwhite quail for instance, found in pockets of southwest Ohio, has declined 71% in population since 2011 at an annual rate of 11%, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
“I remember in the mid-to-late 70s quail being rather common. I was one who grew up to hunt, hunting quail. Those are species that we know were here and were here in good numbers and they’re a lot less common now,” Rich McCarty said, who grew up in southern Ohio and is a naturalist for the Ohio Nature Conservancy.
McCarty said driving the decline in population is the loss of habitat for some upland bird species, which depend on shrubby or grassy undergrowth to nest. Contributing to that loss includes urban development and farming.
But in a way, changes in agricultural practices have led to habitat loss too, said Cody Grasser, Ohio coordinator for Pheasants Forever and Quails Forever — a conservation nonprofit. Grasser explains over the last few decades farms have become less diverse, more mechanized and many farmers have removed woody fence rows.
“Now we have farmed ground that is broken out into much larger pieces without even fence rows or odd areas of habitat in between them,” Grasser explained “So that habitat loss is a big one. We just have significantly less habitat than we used to.”
Federal money for farmers and landowners
In response, the Ohio NRCS office is offering funding through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to farmers and landowners to preserve and create upland bird habitats.
Nick Schell, a biologist for the Ohio NRCS office, said through the initiative, the state agency will work with landowners to put together a conservation plan.
“This initiative, some of the key practices that we want to focus on are things like wildlife habitat planning. So we're focusing on [planting] native wildflowers and grasses,” Schell said. “In addition to providing cover for upland game birds, these habitats also create and attract a habitat for insects, which is a good quality food source for a lot of these species we're talking about.”
Schell said through the wildlife habitat plan, landowners are incentivized to establish or improve woody edges, native grass field borders and shrubby cover.
“Really this is an opportunity for landowners so they can boost up on game bird populations through habitat creation and management,” Schell said
McCarty, who manages the Edge of Appalachia Preserve System in Southern Ohio, said he’s used similar land management practices in the preserve and seen the benefits it has as more quail and pheasants return to the land. He added he’s hopeful more bird species will thrive as state and federal agencies push for more of these conservation programs.
“I hope to someday be able to step out to the local park or not and hear singing quail. That's a sound I grew up with in my childhood. And I will look forward to a day when we can more regularly hear that again,” McCarty said.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
