Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Dale Rollins, 325-653-4576, r-rollins@tamu.edu
SAN ANGELO – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a second set of Quail Appreciation Days across Texas this fall for landowners, naturalists and others interested in proper quail management aimed at stopping the decline of wild native quail.
“This is the first time in half a dozen years that I feel I’ve really seen a glimmer of hope in our wild quail population decline situation,” said Dr. Dale Rollins, statewide coordinator for the Reversing the Quail Decline Initiative in San Angelo.
“This fall’s quail crop is shaping up to be the best since about 2008 in most areas. May and June brought real quail-making weather. Surviving quail were quick to take full advantage of the cool, wet weather, to ‘seize the day’ from a reproductive standpoint.
“It’s our hope that this series of Quail Appreciation Days will help landowners make the most of their improved quail population by implementing and then demonstrating good habitat management practices.”
All the programs share similar agendas, though each will be tailored to fit the area in which that particular appreciation day is set. All start with registration at 8:30 a.m. and conclude by 4:30 p.m.
Dates, counties and the AgriLife Extension agents conducting the workshops are as follows:
– Sept. 16, Archer County, Justin Gilliam.
– Sept. 17, Somervell County, Shawn Davis.
– Sept. 18, Palo Pinto County, Scott Mauney.
– Sept. 23, Tom Green County, Josh Blanek.
– Sept. 30, Zavalla County, Marcelino Valdez.
– Oct. 1, McMullen County, Isaac Cavazos.
– Oct. 2, Duval County, Rogelio Mercado.
– Oct. 15, Wilson County, Bryan Davis.
Each workshop will include presentations on quail physiology and management, plus an afternoon tour demonstrating management and habitat assessment techniques.
Individual preregistraion is $10 due one week prior to the field day and $20 thereafter and at the door.
Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing educations units, two general and one integrated pest management, will be offered at each workshop.
“Our goal is to have attendees literally think like a quail for the entire day,” Rollins said. “Once they experience the quails’ world, they can better appreciate how their management decisions, particularly grazing and brush management, impact quail; either good or bad.”
Rollins said the Quail Appreciation Day series is one component of AgriLife Extension’s Reversing the Decline of Quail Initiative. Other components currently being implemented include a series of research projects and “QuailMasters,” a series of continuing education workshops for serious “students of quail.”
For more information on this series or other components of the quail decline initiative, go to http://wildlife.tamu.edu/quail.
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