The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife is rolling out a fresh pot of dough for landowners who are down to play the conservation game, aiming to bolster grassland habitats and give a leg up to the native winged residents—the likes of northern bobwhite quail that seem to be playing a game of hide-and-seek when it comes to their numbers in the wild, as shared in a statement acquired by ODNR.
Grants will flow to those with cropland, non-cropland, or any patch of dirt that can sprout grass and give these birds a new lease on life, they're doling out cash on a per-acre basis or hinged on the number of projects, and the deal is you can lock in an agreement lasting anywhere from a hot minute (one year) to a longer haul (four years), so says John Kaiser, Private Lands Program Manager at ODNR in a statement to ODNR. Interested folks should holler at a Wildlife Management Consultant and get the ball rolling with some expert-backed, wildlife-friendly land strategy action.
"This grassland habitat program is a win-win for landowners and wildlife," Kaiser remarked, underlining the dual perks of spruced-up soil health and primo cover for all sorts of critters, according to ODNR. What's more, they're taking a magnifying glass to the long-term ripples this will have on the habitats, bird numbers, and the overall social and economic high-fives this could slap onto the community.
The program's game plan is to sync landowner's aims—think soil mojo, bumping up recreation value, buddy-ing with livestock, or upping the wildlife variety—directly with no-nonsense conservation moves; a finding stated by Matt Gardner, State Regional Conservation Partnership Program Coordinator for the National Bobwhite and Grasslands Initiative Foundation, in an interview with ODNR. ODNR's powerhouse partnership will be the wind beneath the wings of the National Bobwhite and Grasslands Initiative Foundation and Ohio who nabbed this chunk of change from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service's Regional Conservation Partnership Program, with a focus on sparking native grassland habitat restoration across multiple states.
For landowners looking to green their thumbs and give quails a home-court advantage, hit up nbgif.org to get the inside track on the National Bobwhite and Grasslands Initiative Foundation, which is all about rebounding wild bobwhite quail numbers, their fellow species, and their original stomping grounds, underscored by research and management with a keen eye on a more vibrant ecosystem for society's sake.
