Entwined Initiatives for Conservation Impact

The NWTF Habitat for the Hatch Initiative, announced in June 2023, has as its main objective the broad aim of improving nesting habitat and brood range over the Southeastern United States over 10 years.

Turkey numbers have declined, significantly in some areas, since the number of birds seen in the 1990s through the early 2000s. Some states report survival rates of fewer than two poults per hen, a serious indicator of a turkey population trending in the wrong direction.

While several factors might be at play when it comes to the reduced turkey populations in many areas, researchers generally agree that habitat is the primary driver when it comes to success. Restoring nesting and brood rearing habitat is roundly pointed to as the key to stabilizing and again growing turkey populations.

Hens require proper cover for nesting. They need protection from predators while on the nest. Once the poults hatch, the young birds need protection while they feed and grow. Feathered edges near forest openings, for example, provide areas where young birds can find nourishment close to protective cover.

Million-Acre Target

Overall, the plan is to create or enhance nesting habitat near brooding habitat on approximately 1 million acres over a decade, creating healthier ecosystems and more and better turkey nesting and brooding habitat across the Southeast and beyond in an 18-state region. Past research helped identify the habitats turkeys need to thrive, but more research is needed to further pinpoint turkey needs based on the changing conditions across the Southeast. The NWTF initiative covers all or portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The collective plan includes focused research, prescribed burns, timber management, removal of invasive plants and landowner education. Successfully completing the plan by 2033 will require an estimated $40 million. To get there, the NWTF expects to leverage funds at a 5:1 ratio, with $8 million coming from the NWTF and the rest through valued partnerships. It’s a lot of money, but the NWTF has a long history of productively working with federal and state agencies, as well as national and local conservation organizations. Sharing the costs of implementing programs benefits not only wild turkeys but other game and nongame species as well. Best of all, the southeastern initiative dovetails into several ongoing initiatives and landscape-scale projects, continuing and improving the cycle of conservation work to benefit a host of wildlife species.

Kacie Bauman, NWTF district biologist for Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, offers an example.

“Arkansas implemented a voluntary northern bobwhite quail and turkey stamp program that allows residents to purchase the stamps, with funds going toward habitat improvements,” Bauman said. “The stamps aren’t required to hunt quail or turkeys but are an effective way for people to contribute to helping both species.”

Stamp sale revenues are combined with funds from the NWTF Arkansas Super Fund to accomplish habitat work on wildlife management areas and other public lands. Mulching, thinning and prescribed burns help create the needed nesting and brood areas that both turkeys and quail need to thrive. Proposed projects are reviewed and ranked before funding is allocated. So far, some 6,000 acres have been positively impacted. Habitat improvements are benefiting turkeys, quail and a host of nongame species.

The NWTF currently partners with the Nature Conservancy of Arkansas, Arkansas Game and Fish, Quail Forever and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission to perform prescribed burns in the Flatwoods ecosystem of southern Arkansas. So far, 3,500 acres of habitat improvements have been completed.

Benefits to Turkeys and More

Elsewhere, Derek Alkire, NWTF district biologist for Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, touts a partnership with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation through the Swain Stewardship Agreement. The aim is to improve elk habitat in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, but turkeys also benefit. The agreement allows the NWTF to purchase and harvest trees from 295 acres of National Forest land and use the revenues for habitat improvements within the forest.

“The RMEF provided $77,000 to go along with NWTF funds for edge feathering of openings, spot treatments of herbicide to control invasives and supplemental planting of trees as needed over 220 acres,” Alkire said.

Habitat for the Hatch also dovetails with America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative, a collaboration of federal and state wildlife agencies, universities, nongovernment organizations including the NWTF, private industry and private landowners. Native longleaf pine is being restored across the Southeast to its historic range.

“Historically, burned longleaf-pine-dominated forests offered excellent turkey habitat, with an herbaceous understory for nesting and brood-rearing cover,” said Doug Little, NWTF director of conservation operations (East).

As the NWTF works to help restore native longleaf pine forests, other species benefit. Red-cockaded woodpecker numbers, traditional residents of longleaf forests, are on the upswing where restoration is occurring. The gopher tortoise is another success story. It has been removed as a candidate for listing as an endangered species in the eastern half of its range, which includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and most of Alabama. Gopher tortoises require an open canopy forest, with diverse ground cover and well-drained sandy soil for burrowing. Restored turkey nesting habitat also helps meet the needs of these tortoises.

NWTF chapters have dedicated Super Fund dollars, plus money from The Nature Conservancy’s fire management program, to improve forest management.

“Did the NWTF specifically get involved in longleaf restoration to keep the gopher tortoise off the threatened list? No,” said Mark Hatfield, NWTF national director of science and planning, “but we sure are proud that our efforts are connected to that conservation success. The comeback of the gopher tortoise shows how many different stakeholders from the conservation community come together with multiple interests and benefit an entire ecosystem.”