In the Daniel Boone National Forest, restored wetlands improve native habitat. Photo © Tom Biebighauser
When the musical call of the quail went quiet in the eastern Kentucky woods, locals missed it. “It’s a distinctive sound that you never forget,” says Mike Grooms, who has hunted the area since childhood. “We used to be able to get into ten coveys of quail within a mile of the house. Lately, there’s been hardly any.”
The quail population diminished over the past several decades as cattle operations replaced tobacco and grain farms that provided more suitable habitat. To bring that wild music back, private organizations and volunteers have stepped in to help repair quail habitat and hopefully restore the ground bird prized by hunters and recreationists alike.
Tom Biebighauser, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service Center for Wetlands and Stream Restoration in South Morehead, Kentucky, is coordinating a project to restore grassland and wetlands on about 700 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest. The collaborative project includes the national forest, two nonprofit organizations, private businesses and a crew of volunteers.
Project participants give what they can. Sheltowee Environmental Education Coalition, a nonprofit association coordinating local projects, is providing administrative support. East Kentucky Power Cooperative is offering seven miles of right-of-way on the national forest for restoration. The utility’s high transmission lines stretch from mountaintop to mountaintop across the forest. The land beneath them must be kept clear of trees, but it’s an ideal area for native grassland restoration.
“We plan to turn these rights-of-way into ribbons of habitat,” says Biebighauser.
As public budgets that pay for environmental upkeep decline, private organizations across the U.S. are taking on local projects to pick up the slack. Members of hunting groups such as Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever and its affiliate, Quail Forever, are working with communities to protect land from development and restore degraded forest, grassland and wetland habitat. They continue a rich tradition of sporting groups that have spurred conservation efforts. In 1922, the Izaak Walton League—a group of dedicated anglers who were concerned about deteriorating fishing conditions—set an aggressive course to protect wild lands and riparian areas for future generations.
The project on the Daniel Boone got under way after Grooms, a retired construction engineer who founded the Hinkston Creek Chapter of Quail Forever and now serves as its treasurer, invited Biebighauser to a meeting in May 2007. The group’s original donation of $3,000 has helped garner matching funds and in-kind contributions. Project members have already raised more than $167,000.
Grooms, like many hunting enthusiasts in the area, remembers the days when his grandfather would take him out of school to go bird hunting. “There were birds everywhere,” he says. Today, Quail Forever biologists estimate that quail populations nationwide have declined between 60 and 90 percent since 1970.
A big part of the problem in Kentucky is a grass by the name of Kentucky 31 tall fescue. Unlike the state’s famous bluegrass, Kentucky 31 tall fescue is a tough, persistent grass that crowds out other vegetation and now covers about 5.5 million acres of Kentucky’s total 26 million acres. In the 1930s it was hailed as a “wonder grass” because it grew on eroded hillsides and steep streambeds. But over time, problems have emerged. Mares that eat it rarely conceive, and the few foals that are born have problems from the start. Cattle that eat it lose weight and produce less milk. The cause has been traced to an endophytic fungus associated with the grass.
The restoration project will include disking entrenched fescue to eliminate it and give native grasses and weeds a chance to grow. Seeding the plowed fields will make the recovery faster. Native grasses and forbs—such as big bluestem, little bluestem, Indiangrass, partridge pea and Illinois bundleflower—grow in bunches, compared with the solid ground cover of fescue, and provide a more hospitable habitat for ground-nesting birds, such as bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse and wild turkeys. The native grasses are up to six feet tall, and bend gracefully to create cover for the birds. The bare ground between the bunches provides dirt where the birds find seeds and insects.
“Bobwhite quail like to walk under protective cover,” says Biebighauser. “They find plenty to eat from the native grasses.”
Many other species will also benefit from the restoration. The forest is home to 220 bird species, including the prairie warbler, the eastern bluebird and the song sparrow. Improved habitat will increase the populations of small mammals—such as mice, chipmunks, moles, voles and rabbits—that provide food for hawks and owls. The habitat is also home to the endangered Indiana bat and Virginia big-eared bat, which feast on the insects that teem in the wetlands.
More than 300 acres of wetlands covered in the project will be restored through maintenance of water control structures, adjusting water levels for waterfowl and shorebirds, repairing muskrat and beaver disruption and controlling woody plants on low dams. The wetlands, where fifty local aquatic plant species grow, are home to more than twenty local amphibian species and six reptiles. Bald eagles and ospreys have been occasional visitors, and habitat improvement may entice them to nest. Project participants hope pied-bill grebes will join the Canada geese, hooded mergansers and common loons that already live in the area.
In Kentucky, as elsewhere, volunteer involvement is crucial to ensuring the project’s success. Workdays will be scheduled on Saturdays to encourage participation. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Morehead State University and Eastern Kentucky University students, and members of the Rowan County Wildlife Association and the Menifee County Fish and Game Club will do the grunt work. “Everything from sowing native plant seeds to mulching exposed soils with straw,” says Biebighauser. “Some will donate use of their tractors. Others will pick rocks from fields.”
These improvements will open more public land to recreational users, Grooms says, whether they are armed with binoculars, cameras or guns.
Recently, a group of Morehead University students came out to maintain nest boxes for waterfowl. “They learn they can get outdoors and actually make a difference,” Biebighauser says. “Community organizations and volunteers allow us to be more effective, improve more acres of habitat.” The presence of enthusiastic volunteers has also been motivating. “They add interest and enthusiasm,” he says. “We all learn from each other.”