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News and Events
Quail SAFE Initiative
Friday, July 11, 2008
In 2007, the USDA-Farm Service Agency announced the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement initiative (SAFE) under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). SAFE was designed to address the habitat needs of endangered, threatened or high-priority fish and wildlife species. Sign-up is now underway for a new CRP practice, CP38 – Bobwhite Quail Habitat, which will enhance bobwhite quail and other grassland wildlife habitat in Mississippi.
Once an abundant gamebird, bobwhite quail populations have experienced major declines in Mississippi during the last 25 years. These declines are attributed to changes in land use and management that have reduced quality of nesting, brood-rearing, and protective cover. Today, few areas support sufficient bobwhite quail populations to offer quality hunting opportunities. Thus, the CP38 – Bobwhite Quail Habitat practice (along with CRP, CP33 – Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds) was developed to increase grassland wildlife habitat in row crop agricultural systems.
The practice consists of establishing native grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs to provide critical habitat for bobwhites and other grassland wildlife. There are a total of 2,950 acres available for enrollment in 29 counties throughout Central and North Mississippi. Eligible counties include: Alcorn, Benton, Bolivar, Chickasaw, Clay, Coahoma, Desoto, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Lee, Leflore, Lowndes, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, Noxubee, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tunica, Union, and Yazoo.
Eligible acres are automatically accepted instead of being competitively ranked and may be enrolled at any time until all practice acreage has been enrolled. Both whole and partial field enrollments are eligible. Like other CRP practices, incentives, cost-shares, and annual rental payments are available on eligible CP38 acres. For more information on eligibility or to enroll in CP38, visit the Farm Service Agency office at your USDA Service Center (www.fsa.usda.gov/ms). For more information on bobwhite quail management, contact Delta Wildlife (www.deltawildlife.org) or the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (www.mdwfp.com/quail).