Working across state lines to achieve habitat and species conservation: National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative Coordinated Implementation Program

Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and species that live in the same farmlands, native grasslands, shrublands and woodlands have declined precipitously over 4 decades largely because of agricultural intensification and unchecked natural plant succession.   Bobwhite populations have declined an average of 3% per year since 1966.  In 2011, the National Bobwhite Technical Committee (NBTC), a 25-state consortium of state wildlife agencies and partners, launched the spatially-explicit National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative 2.0 (NBCI 2.0), based on habitat-population relationships that were viewed as hypotheses in need of testing.  In 2014, NBTC and state wildlife agency directors (NBCI Management Board) adopted the Focal Area and Coordinated Implementation Program (CIP) with a foundation based on strategic habitat conservation.  The CIP aims to demonstrate in numerous places that within 5-10 years, management, principally of habitat, can achieve bobwhite densities as prescribed in NBCI 2.0, stimulating habitat and bobwhite expansion across the landscape.  Population response of a suite of grassland/shrubland birds is also being studied.  In 2014, 8 Focal Area programs were operational by state agencies and partners in Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, and preparation had begun in Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland and New Jersey.  NBCI Focal Areas include both private agricultural lands and public conservation lands, with leadership provided by private landowners, non-government organizations, and state and federal natural resource agencies.  We describe the integration of habitat management, partner and agency leadership, and application of scientific principles to foster this test of species conservation.