Wildlife Management

The NWTF partnered with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and the Cherokee National Forest to create habitat openings for wildlife across 1,249 acres in the Tellico and Ocoee districts of the Cherokee National Forest. The NWTF provided tractor implements to achieve these openings.

A $5,000 grant from the NWTF assisted state wildlife agencies in conducting controlled burns in the Unaka Ranger District of the forest.

Work benefiting quail and wild turkeys in the Southern Piney Woods is aiding red-cockaded woodpeckers.

In partnership with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, the NWTF created two water wells for wildlife in the Cedar Bluff Wildlife Area.

Friday at the 43rd annual NWTF Convention and Sport Show’s Conservation Conference, various state wildlife agencies and universities presented details of conservation projects with the NWTF. The presentations were part of the conference’s Wild Turkey Research seminar.

The NWTF collaborated with the USDA Forest Service and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on the Frenchtown Face Project – a project just west of Missoula, Montana, focused on prescribed burning and thinning ground cover in the Lolo National Forest to help wildlife and improve habitat.

NWTF partnerships are improving riparian zones on public lands in Missouri, Illinois.

We worked closely with other conservation and forestry organizations to build strong recommendations to ensure that the 2018 Farm Bill contains strong conservation and forestry titles that benefit farmers, forest landowners and the outdoor community.

The NWTF and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries annually identify needed habitat improvement projects on state Wildlife Management Areas.

Tools and techniques include hand-felling with chainsaws, lopping and scattering, girdling and mechanical piling to remove ponderosa pine and spruce from within and around aspen, birch and bur oak stands in the Sugarloaf project area.

What our volunteers — alongside our partners — are accomplishing is not only imperative for the wild turkey and countless other species but also for the continuation of our hunting heritage.

This projected impacted 700 acres, improving crucial habitat for wild turkey, mountain quail and the Pacific deer herd.

Pollination is the basis for important wildlife habitats and human food crops, but pollinator species populations (bees, butterflies, birds) are declining.

The NWTF and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collaborated on a prescribed burn project at the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge to improve pine and pine-hardwoods habitats.

The work, performed in the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge, involved treating 50 acres with herbicide to control advancement by unwanted hardwoods and woody plants in 2017 and the reintroduction of prescribed fire in 2018 on 190 acres.

The NWTF has contributed $22,000 and helped open access to more than 437 acres.

The NWTF’s Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. initiative is now focused on maintaining those healthy, sustainable and huntable wild turkey populations for generations to come. An important part of doing that is active habitat management, which includes the use of prescribed burning or prescribed fire.

The North Dakota Game and Fish’s open access program receives an annual donation of $10,000 from the NWTF North Dakota State Chapter to help secure additional privately controlled acreage for public use, and 2018 was no different.

The NWTF, along with the Texas A&M Forest Service, conducted two separate projects within the state forest to improve turkey habitats.

“Almost any property can probably be enhanced by providing a diversity of habitat types,” Buckland said.

There are some gobblers with multiple beards, and occasionally we encounter a gobbler that is beardless.

Each year wildlife officials and veterinarians are inundated with phone calls from individuals who have encountered what they perceive as an abandoned, helpless young animal.

With budget constraints, sustaining the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands has become a challenge. Using partnerships, such as the one with the NWTF, the work is being completed.

Managing forests for diverse habitat has become a balancing act in America’s Western Wildlands.

Want to create an eye-catching sight and help wildlife at the same time? Convert that empty field or part of your sprawling lawn into a dazzling wildflower meadow.

John D. Burk, NWTF district biologist for Missouri and Illinois, said the NWTF and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have worked to re-establish open woodland areas at Siloam Springs State Park in Adams and Brown counties and Hidden Springs State Park in Shelby County.

A number of factors play a role in turkey populations, but one is more important than all of them.    

Compared to any other method of habitat management and manipulation for wild turkeys in the Southern Piney Woods, prescribed fire is by far the best, cheapest and most efficient.

Conservation is one of the top priorities for the NWTF, and we dedicate two days of our annual convention to conservation presentations and meetings.

Discover the benefits of developing a wildlife management strategy with your neighbor.

Which predators take the greatest toll on our birds? You might be surprised

A new exhibit at the Allegany State Park Administration Building Museum commemorates the park’s role in trapping and transferring wild turkeys to other areas within New York and other Northeastern states.

The recent rash of wildfires has become the new normal for many parts of the country, but how did we get here?

A region untouched by massive ice sheets that once covered the land has turned into a wild turkey area of focus for the NWTF and its partners

Learning to identify native and nonnative plants can be fun for the entire family.

Want to see more wildlife? Create a wildlife refuge on your property.

Prescribed fire helps snuff out unwanted vegetation.

Using GPS to study turkey movements before, during and after prescribed fires provides many clues into how prescribed fire can affect turkey nesting.

One key to successful habitat projects is forging solid partnerships between multiple agencies.

The Endangered Species Act has been instrumental in the restoration of certain endangered species. Some, however, benefited more from the threat of ESA involvement than its actual implementation.

Turkeys and other wildlife need water in close proximity of where they live, as they need water almost daily.

Many factors influence wildlife populations, but hunters can help keep those populations healthy and huntable by paying attention.

Nearly 50 conservation groups worked to recommend vital conservation-related solutions to the new president and congress.

Partnerships are restoring habitats in the Zuni Mountains.

An unkept-looking field can keep wildlife close

Gould’s wild turkeys in the United States were completely wiped out in 1929 but are now restored to huntable populations

Learn how cutting some trees on your property increases wildlife productivity.

A unique upland habitat enhancement project will help curb the decline in cerulean warbler populations.

Fall seasons make just as much, if not more sense than spring seasons. Learn why you should be in the woods when the leaves turn red.

The work isn’t always easy. But it is rewarding.

Biologists need your help to keep game populations healthy and huntable.

Times are changing, and so are the methods of turkey population improvements.

We need healthy habitat to support healthy wild turkey populations, which provides hunting opportunities and funding for more conservation.

The NWTF stands behind the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

Predators take a back seat when it comes to the conservation of wild turkeys. Find out what impacts their populations.

Learn why wild turkey populations are fluctuating.

Build or buy a wood duck box and watch nature happen.

Separate myth from fact and learn how to coexist with predators.

Trapping may not directly influence turkey populations or predator presence, but it sure is a lot of fun!

What puts the hunting lifestyle in danger, find out the top 10 factors now.

What has a bigger impact? Habitat management or predator control? Find out here.