"A Method for Setting Northern Bobwhite Population and Habitat" by James Giocomo, William Vermillion et al.

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Article Title

A Method for Setting Northern Bobwhite Population and Habitat Objectives for Large Landscape Partnerships

Authors

James Giocomo, Oaks and Prairies Joint VentureFollow
William Vermillion, Gulf Coast Joint Venture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceFollow
Stephen DeMaso, Gulf Coast Joint Venture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceFollow
Barry Wilson, Gulf Coast Joint Venture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Jon Hayes, Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Kenneth Gee, Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture
Jesús Franco, Rio Grande Joint Venture
Aimee Roberson, Rio Grande Joint Venture
Robert Perez, Texas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentFollow
Jeff Raasch, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Bill Bartush, Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Benjamin Kahler, Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Abstract

Population and habitat objectives are the foundation for many conservation actions. Often objectives set at one scale are difficult to translate to larger or smaller scales. Three bird habitat Joint Ventures, Gulf Coast, Oaks & Prairies, and Rio Grande, working cooperatively with the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative, have a common objective to stabilize northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations in four Bird Conservation Regions. We cooperatively developed a method using the North American Breeding Bird Survey trend for several scenarios with different time horizons (10-, 20-, 30-year, or longer), the spring home range size, and the per acre cost of habitat management actions, to set spring population and habitat objectives and projected costs. The spring population objectives can easily be converted to fall population objectives using the percent summer gain. We provide an example of how three Joint Ventures could use this methodology to set bobwhite objectives within their geographies and then scale those objectives up to the next larger geography, a Landscape Conservation Cooperative geography. This methodology can be used by other multi-state partnerships (e.g., Joint Ventures and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives) across the bobwhite range to provide the bobwhite conservation community meaningful objectives at regional and national scales.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7290/nqsp086n5w

Recommended Citation

Giocomo, James; Vermillion, William; DeMaso, Stephen; Wilson, Barry; Hayes, Jon; Gee, Kenneth; Franco, Jesús; Roberson, Aimee; Perez, Robert; Raasch, Jeff; Bartush, Bill; and Kahler, Benjamin (2017) "A Method for Setting Northern Bobwhite Population and Habitat Objectives for Large Landscape Partnerships," National Quail Symposium Proceedings: Vol. 8 , Article 37.
https://doi.org/10.7290/nqsp086n5w
Available at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/nqsp/vol8/iss1/37

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