By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

This past summer, I experienced a treat I didn't expect would happen again in my lifetime. A covey of bobwhite quail made their summer home in the acreage around our home in Baldwin County. I cherished each "Bob-White" mating call I heard and caught glimpses of them entering several areas with thick vegetation.

That thick vegetation that provides protection for brood-rearing is one of the key ingredients for quail to survive and thrive, according to Caleb Blake, the Upland Game Bird Coordinator with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division.

"While we are not at the population we once had, where there is adequate habitat, I would say there can be or are stable populations if you know where to look," Blake said. "Quail populations, in general, are stable. We've had about 80% decline in the past few decades. People look at the 1960s as the beginning of the decline, but that was just when we first started looking and doing the breeding-bird survey. It has probably been declining since post-World War II.

"Historically, in the 19th and 20th centuries, farm practices were able to boost quail populations. They were a byproduct of what we call 'messy' farming with more fallow areas, more hedgerows and smaller fields."

Then came modern farming techniques that allowed soil disruption from fencerow to fencerow on higher acreage.

"That diminished the beneficial habitat," Blake said. "The areas that once boosted populations were gone, and we saw a drastic decline. Higher efficiency farming and urban development contributed to the decline."

Another area with habitat decline is the Alabama Black Belt, where quail once flourished.

"Historically, the Black Belt was a prairie," Blake said. "It still is wide open, but the majority of it is cow pasture. The grass planted for cattle is poor quail habitat. Even though it is wide open, it's still inadequate habitat for bobwhites."

Alabama's booming timber industry also played a role in the reduction of quail habitat.

"Alabama once had abundant prairie ecosystems with longleaf pine and oak savannas," Blake said. "What we see in Alabama today is not what it looked like 200 years ago because of the increase in the timber industry. You can have a happy medium with the timber industry and bobwhite quail management. The problem is the density in which we plant trees and a lack of thinning, which makes the property unsuitable for managing quail habitat. We try to find a happy medium, but, in many areas, there are too many trees for suitable quail habitat."

Blake is a diehard proponent of making prescribed burns an integral part of timber management.

"For some of the timber, a lack of an active burn rotation is a problem," he said. "From an economic standpoint, fire is the cheapest and most beneficial practice that we can encourage landowners to use on their properties. Historically, the ecosystems in Alabama have evolved with frequent fire running through the landscape, helping to keep woody encroachment under control and promoting early successional habitat. The disappearance of frequent fire on the landscape has coincided with the start of the decline of bobwhites."

Blake said another timber management practice that is beneficial to quail and other small game is thinning to keep the forest below a certain density.

"By opening up the canopy, it allows more sunlight to hit the ground," he said. "That promotes the growth of native grasses, forbs and shrubs that increase quail habitat on the forest floor."

Blake also said that the proper distribution of herbicides can also be important for improving quail habitat.

"There are so many invasive species out there, it has diminished the quality of the landscape," he said. "Herbicide, fire and thinning are in the magic toolbox for creating quality quail habitat."