In Profile: NRM's Brad Dabbert flushes out reasons for sharp quail decline
Three years ago the National Audubon Society listed the Northern Bobwhite Quail as the No. 1 common bird in decline. From 1967 to 2007, the bird's population decreased from 31 million to 5.5 million. "They're declining everywhere, but we're doing better here in the Rolling Plains than other parts of the country," said Brad Dabbert, an associate professor in Texas Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management.
Finding reasons for the overall declining quail population and strategies to reverse the trend is the impetus behind a sweeping research project known as the Quail-Tech Alliance Research Initiative. Texas Tech is partnering with some of state's storied ranches and smaller rural properties on the project.
Quail-Tech Alliance. The Quail-Tech Alliance, which launched in January, will encompass 22 million acres in a 44-county area in west central and northwest Texas. "The next five years are critical," said Charles Hodges, a Dallas architect and Texas Tech alum who is one of the founders of 'Quail First,' a new nonprofit group channeling donations to fund the research.
The core of the project is designating an anchor ranch in each county to serve as a research and/or demonstration site for the next five years. Additional smaller ranchers in the counties also are being recruited. Participating ranches include Guthrie's Pitchfork Ranch, Vernon's W. T. Waggoner Ranch, Collingsworth County's Mill Iron Ranch and Archer County's Circle A Ranch.
Hands-On Experience. The project's massive geographic area allows Tech researchers to study a broad range of factors, including habitat, toxins, supplemental feed, fire ants, chick survival and disease, Dabbert said. Plus, its five-year time span guards against catastrophic weather events and allows researchers to examine influences of variable annual weather patterns.
Anchor ranches are paying a $3,500 annual enrollment fee for each year of the five-year program to fund the project, Dabbert said. Each ranch also will be the site of a one-year, ranch-specific quail project during the program to better serve the ranches' specific needs. "A lot of the ranches we've seen so far are doing a lot of things right," he said. "We're going to help them fine-tune some things to do even better."
Written by Jessicca Daigle Martin
Reporting by Laura Gutschke
CONTACT: Brad Dabbert, associate professor, Department of Natural Resources Management Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2842 or brad.dabbert@ttu.edu
0727NM10 / Photo Illustrations: N Martin / Editor's Note: For more on the Quail-Tech Alliance project, click http://www.quail-tech.org/ or contact Brad Dabbert at (806) 742-2842 or brad.dabbert@ttu.edu
Davis College NewsCenter
-
Address
P.O. Box 42123, Lubbock, Texas 79409-2123, Dean's Office Location:Goddard Building, Room 108 -
Phone
(806)742-2808 -
Email
kris.allen@ttu.edu