The Southeastern U.S. is roughly 85% private land, and some states like Texas are as high as 95% privately owned. Given these facts, how can a conservation organization make a significant impact? The answer is by working with private landowners.
When Megan Hart, an ornithologist and SGI’s latest team member, goes out to visit a farmer to discuss grassland restoration, one of the first things she does is notice which birds she can hear calling (fall and winter) or singing (spring and summer). Much too often, both the soulful serenade of the Meadowlark song as well as it’s telltale bleating call is missing. Moreover, she almost never gets to hear the questioning song of the Bobwhite. “I love what I do because I know that each acre of grassland habitat we are able to bring back for wildlife and insects is going to help these precipitously declining birds,” Megan says.
Monarch on a field thistle at an RCPP site in Tennessee. Photo by Brittney Viers.
This is the goal of SGI’s Reversing Declines in Grasslands Biodiversity project currently underway in Tennessee and Kentucky in partnership with nine partner organizations. Led by the American Bird Conservancy (representing the Central Habitat Joint Venture), 10 partners collaborated and were awarded funding by the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS).
The value-added of our RCPP project
This federally funded program allows conservation groups to bring “value-added” to existing Farm Bill conservation programs to address important on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. On farms in Tennessee and Kentucky, the Quail Forever Farm Bill team is bringing value-added in the form of knowledge about the habitat needs of Eastern Meadowlarks, Northern Bobwhite, Henslow’s Sparrows (another precipitously declining species) and other grassland birds, as well as many species of pollinators and other types of wildlife. Jeremy French, another Quail Forever Farm Bill wildlife biologist, says, “The conservation practices being embraced by private landowners now are likely to show demonstrable results in the next year or two—not only will birds benefit, but the abundance of frogs, lizards, and even salamanders, not to mention insect pollinators, will increase!”
Megan’s and Jeremy’s positions are emblematic in many ways of how conservation is conducted in the 21st century. Their employer—and a key partner in the RCPP project—is Quail Forever, but they are based at Austin Peay State University working closely with SGI leadership. Their duties involve collaborating closely with NRCS staff, other QF farm bill wildlife biologists, and private lands biologists with the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Their mission? To bring expert knowledge of what wildlife need, in the form of grassland habitat, and how to provide it. This includes the development of site-specific “seed mix” recommendations for the native grasses and wildflowers that are not only important to birds, pollinators, and other wildlife but also can be locally sourced through another SGI partner, Roundstone Native Seed, so that they will thrive in the sites where they are planted.
“I hope to some day return to some of these properties we are working on to monitor bird response,” says Megan, “and find that bobwhites or Henslow’s Sparrows have moved in. That’s the best possible outcome for a wildlife biologist!”
Progress to date
Brittney Viers, SGI’s Interior Plateaus Grassland Coordinator and leader of the Farm Bill team, reports that since spring 2019, QF’s Farm Bill biologist team has helped to get 165 acres under Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts in KY and 458 acres under EQIP contracts in TN.
KY contracts are focused in Madison County near or adjoining the Blue Grass Army Depot, which is a Quail Focus Area. This approach of augmenting existing high priority areas can be very successful from a conservation standpoint. Landowners are working primarily on core practices such as providing cover, forage harvest and management (timing is important for nesting birds), forage and biomass planting for grazing, riparian herbaceous cover, or early successional habitat management.
In Tennessee, contracts favor the counties with the greatest grassland conservation need. Landowners in TN are embracing native warm season grass pasture conversions with supporting cattle practices (again to promote successful nesting) as well as pollinator habitat, invasive species control, brush management to restore native grassland areas, and prescribed fire. Currently work is focusing on Wetland Reserve Easements and Conservation Stewardship Program contracts.