In an effort to give bobwhite quail and pollinators a boost, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is offering financial incentives under the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) in a partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Landowners interested in establishing at least five acres of new bobwhite habitat, applying management practices on at least five acres of existing native grass not under a USDA contract, or establishing at least one acre of pollinator habitat buffer on a crop or hay field or pasture can apply at the local NRCS office.

The NRCS is accepting applications on a continuous basis for certain practices that benefit bobwhite quail and pollinators under the CCPI. The CCPI is funded through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP).

The TWRA’s CCPI incentives are $100 per acre for bobwhite quail or pollinator native grass, forb and shrub habitat, and varied incentives on applied management practices. TWRA CCPI incentives are limited and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications for the CCPI and TWRA incentives will be accepted by NRCS at any time, but the first funding cycle ends February 1, 2010. If funds are not exhausted at that time applications will continue to be taken.

While enrollment is open statewide, preference for CCPI funding and TWRA Incentives will be given for offers within the following 28 Priority Bobwhite Restoration counties: Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Haywood, Henry, Lauderdale, Madison, Obion, Tipton, and Weakley (West Tennessee); Montgomery, Robertson, Sumner, Coffee, Franklin, Giles, Lincoln, and Maury (Middle Tennessee); Cumberland, Loudon, Meigs, McMinn, Monroe, Rhea, Greene, and Hawkins (Cumberland Plateau/East Tennessee). These counties were identified by TWRA as having the best potential for habitat restoration and a resulting response by quail.

The NRCS payment rates for developing and/or improving quality bobwhite habitat or pollinator habitat is 75 percent of approved practice costs. The payment rate increases to 90 percent for beginning, limited resource, or socially disadvantaged farmers.

“Bobwhite quail populations have declined more than 70 percent since 1980 and we continue to face loss of habitat and other obstacles to maintaining and increasing populations of this popular game bird,” said Mark Gudlin, TWRA Private Lands Liaison. “We need to intensify our efforts on restoring quality native habitats where chances of success are best and bobwhites are most likely to respond and persist.

In addition, as society has become more aware of the importance of native pollinators to healthy agricultural crops and native plants, we saw an opportunity to encourage good habitat for pollinators such as native bees, beetles, and butterflies, which also overlaps with good habitat for quail and many other wildlife.”

Eligible practices consist of converting cropland or tame grassland at least five acres in size to a mixture of native grass and broadleaf plants (forbs) along with a small percentage of native shrub thickets and hedgerows, and/or thinning woodland edges along this habitat. Improvements can also be made to existing native grass stands at least five acres in size not currently under other USDA contracts by applying management practices such as strip disking, strip herbicide application, or prescribed burning plus interseeding of native legumes and forbs; addition of needed native shrub cover; and prescribed burning of thinned woodlands. Pollinator habitat opportunities include whole or partial fields established or converted on at least five acres to a mixture of short native grasses heavy on native wildflowers and some native shrubs that will flower at different times from early spring through fall, or field buffers of native grass and wildflower mixes at least one acre in size.

Application can be made at your local NRCS office or USDA Service Center. Applications for the TWRA incentives can be made at the same time. More information on the specific practices and TWRA Incentives can be viewed at http://www.tn.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/CCPI.html.