Help for habitat

When Carl Walker roamed the fields as a kid, bobwhite quail were commonplace.
“Now,” said Walker, “we have essentially none.”
Decline of the bobwhite quail population in this part of Indiana started in the 1940s, said Nathan Yazel, district wildlife biologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
As farming practices changed, fencerows that had been natural habitat for quail to nest and rear their broods began to disappear.
Then, said Walker, the blizzard winters of 1977 and 1978 came along and finished off most of the remaining quail population, suffocating the small birds under snowdrifts.
Yazel and Walker outlined efforts to develop welcoming habitat for bobwhite quail this week during a wildlife field day at the Walker farm in northwest Jay County sponsored by the Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District.
“Hopefully, we’re going to have some quail if we’re really lucky,” said Walker. “Last winter I had a covey of 14 quail, but by spring we were down to five.”
Yazel explained that bobwhite quail can be considered a “needy” bird when it comes to flourishing in the wild. Of a nest of 12 hatchlings, only four or five might survive to adulthood.
Nests are often the targets of predators like raccoons, skunks and possums, who prey on the young birds. Adults are targeted by hawks and owls. In the summer, the quail need shade; in the winter, they need protection from the cold.
Walker, who has been involved in the soil and water conservation district for years, has had land not suitable for farming in the Conservation Reserve Program in the past. Most recently, he has placed that land in the SAFE program, which is also run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
SAFE stands for State Acres For wildlife Enhancement. Like the CRP program, it’s intended to take marginal acreage out of production.
Unlike the CRP program, SAFE is funded by fees on hunting licenses, said Walker.
“It was designed to provide habitat for some endangered species,” said Yazel.
Those species include Henslow’s sparrow, the sedge wren and bobwhite quail.
In an effort to provide suitable bobwhite quail habitat, Walker has planted a number of short, warm-season grasses, legumes and a mix of wildflowers.
“You’ve got to provide the habitat,” he said.
It’s been an uneven process.
Walker took the approximately 50 field day participants to three habitat areas on the farm, referring to them as “the good, the bad and the ugly.”
This spring’s heavy rains in May and June led to a bumper crop of teasel, a prickly weed that may look good when used in fall craft projects but which is no help when developing habitat.
Getting the right grasses and legumes and wildflowers to grow while eliminating weedy competitors has been a challenge. The goal is to provide not just permanent vegetative cover on the land but the right sort of vegetative cover.
But Walker’s not giving up. The acres he’s trying to develop as bobwhite quail habitat will be in the SAFE program for 15 years, so he’ll keep trying.
“We need to make room for the other little creatures that live on the earth,” he said.
To download a PDF file with more information about the SAFE program, go to https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/safe08.pdf or contact the local Farm Services Agency office.