Restoration Potential: Because the species responds well to management, restoration potential is good (Page and Austen 1994). For example, In Arkansas, breeding birds were significantly more abundant in forested stands after the canopy was opened by thinning and prescribed fire, than in untreated stands (Wilson et al. 1995). The number of coveys increased from 16 to 80 in four years following management (strip discing) on a 3400-acre (1376 ha) farm in Tippah County, Mississippi (Brennan 1993). The restoration potential may remain unrealized in agricultural states such as Illinois, however, because present-day land use, which is not beneficial to quail, is unlikely to change (Roseberry and Sudkamp 1998).
Preserve Selection and Design Considerations: Early-successional habitats are considered optimum in forested habitats (Ellis et al. 1969, Roseberry et al. 1979). In agricultural regions, heterogeneous landscapes consisting of moderate amounts of row crops and grasslands, along with abundant woody edge provide optimum habitat (Roseberry and Sudkamp 1998). Optimum habitat has been described as consisting of 30-40% grassland, 40-60% cropland, 5-20% brushy cover, and 5-40% woodland cover (Johnsgard 1973). On western rangelands, site productivity influences the appropriateness of successional stage. Late successional stages provide the best habitat on sites with low productivity, whereas early successional stages provide the best habitat on site with high productivity (Guthery 1997). Frequent habitat disturbance (e.g., soil disturbance, fire) is essential to prevent loss of preferred early-successional habitats. Although there are no definitive data on optimum size of an area needed to support Northern Bobwhites in the long term, researchers suspect that 202-404 hectares (500-1000 acres) are required (L. Brennan, pers. comm.).
Management Requirements: On western rangelands, habitat can be optimized by varying cattle density (and thus grazing intensity) with site productivity (Guthery 1997). More productive sites can be grazed more heavily than less productive sites as this provides the early successional vegetative stage preferred (Spears et al. 1993). On less productive sites, however, later successional stages should be maintained by relatively light continuous grazing or rotational grazing (Campbell-Kissock et al. 1984, Campbell-Kissock et al. 1985). Heavily grazed pastures in the Midwest and the Southeast are of no use to quail (Klimstra and Scott 1957, Murray 1958, Roseberry and Klimstra 1984). In the Midwest and Northeast, populations respond well to increased edge and early successional habitats (Burger and Linduska 1967, Ellis et al. 1969, Hanson and Miller 1961). Prescribed fire is also an important management tool, especially in the southeast (Brennan et al. 1995, Gutierrez and Brennan 1998). Numbers of individuals are higher in areas managed by fire than those not burned (Brennan 1991, Wilson et al. 1995). Prescribed fire increases arthropod abundance and facilitates travel of chicks through groundcover vegetation (Hurst 1972). Fire also reduces hardwood encroachment and promotes the sun-loving groundcover plant species essential for food and cover (Platt et al. 1988, Waldrop et al. 1992). Because Northern Bobwhites respond favorably to fire, habitat management for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (PICOIDES BOREALIS) is compatible with quail management (Brennan 1991, Brennan and Fuller 1993). The suitability of cropfields as habitat can be improved by providing adjacent strips of early-successional herbaceous vegetation (Palmer et al. 1998, Puckett et al. 1995). Retaining thorny brush on grazed areas provides protection for nesting birds (Bareiss et al. 1986). Density can be enhanced by reductions in Red Imported Fire Ant density (Allen et al. 1995). Strip discing increases arthropod biomass during quail egg laying and brood-rearing periods (Manley et al. 1994), and populations respond positively to strip discing (Brennan 1993). Agricultural and silvicultural practices that retain streamside vegetation also benefit this species (Keller et al. 1993). In the northern portion of the range, supplemental food can increase winter survivorship during extreme winter weather (Robel and Kemp 1997, Townsend et al. 1999). Food plots, however, do not increase population size (Guthery 1997). Provision of supplemental water is not necessary as bobwhites are capable of obtaining ample water from other sources (Guthery 1999, Guthery and Koerth 1992). Taking erodible farm land out of production through enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) can provide suitable quail habitat (Burger et al. 1990, Burger et al. 1995b, Stauffer et al. 1990, Taylor et al. 1999a, 1999b). However, the full potential of the CRP in improving habitat for quail in not always realized. Tall Fescue (FESTUCA ARUNDINACEA), which is unsuitable for bobwhite as cover or food (Barnes et al. 1995), is the dominant grass species seeded into CRP lands (Osborn et al. 1992 cited in Washburn et al. 2000). Mowing and/or haying during the nesting season, as well as tree establishment, also reduce the effectiveness of the CRP in providing quail habitat (Hays and Farmer 1990, Stauffer et al. 1990). Tall Fescue dominance can be reduced by discing and herbicide application, or burning and herbicide application followed by establishment of native warm-season grasses (Madison et al. 1995, Washburn et al. 2000). In his summary paper, Guthery (1997) posits the common sense tenet that populations can be maximized when land managers make all points within an area usable by quail at all times.
Management Research Needs: Despite being one of the most intensively studied and managed bird species in the world (Scott 1985), many management-related questions remain. Of particular importance are studies that rigorously test influences of various forms of habitat management, hunting pressure, grazing, agriculture, silviculture, predation, interspecific competition, variations in weather, pesticide application, and release of captive-raised stock. Additional research is needed to determine causes of the rangewide population declines and ways of reversing them (Brennan 1999).
Biological Research Needs: Need a comprehensive systematic study of subspecies, as well as studies of genetic variation at landscape, regional, and local scales; biological mechanisms that govern movements and spacing; regional variations in vocalizations; and sociobiology (Brennan 1999).