To Help Bobwhite Plight, Georgians Form Two New Quail Forever Chapters
Quail Forever 07.14.14
Georgia residents concerned with conserving upland habitat for bobwhite quail have formed a pair of new Quail Forever chapters in the state. The Southwest Georgia Quail Forever chapter is based in the Albany area, and the Upper Chattahoochee Quail Forever chapter has formed north of Atlanta in Cobb and Fulton counties.
The new chapters give an added boost to the newly-formed Florida/Georgia Quail Coalition. Quail Forever has teamed up with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources – Wildlife Resources, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy to promote and support public land quail habitat management and youth shooting sports.
“These new Quail Forever chapters will provide volunteer and financial support for quail habitat projects that are the backbone to sustainable bobwhite quail populations,” says Talbott Parten, a native Georgian and Quail Forever’s regional representative in the state, “And habitat restoration is possible when people band together under the mission of Quail Forever.”
Quail Forever is dedicated to the conservation of quail, pheasants and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs. Quail Forever chapters promote local, state, and federal conservation programs which help landowners protect environmentally sensitive acres for quail and other wildlife. Quail Forever also employs a unique model of empowering local chapters with 100 percent control of the chapters’ locally-raised funds to complete habitat and youth education projects in the chapters’ own communities.
Southwest Georgia Quail Forever
- The chapter has elected Robert McKinney and Tommy Gregors, both of Albany, as president and treasurer, respectively.
- For more information about the chapter, contact Robert McKinney at (229) 347-1327 / email.
Upper Chattahoochee Quail Forever
- The chapter has elected Mark Clore of Gainesville as president, Bill Cunningham of Cumming as treasurer, Blake Douglas of Woodstock as banquet chair, Mark Gillette of Duluth as habitat chair, Jarrod Lock of Dacula as co-youth chair and Randy Schiltz of Cumming as co-youth chair.
- For more information about the chapter, contact Mark Clore at (678) 772-3567 / email.
Quail Forever in Georgia
Georgia is home to eight Quail Forever chapters and more than 1,000 Quail Forever and/or Pheasants Forever members. For more information on Quail Forever’s upland conservation efforts in the state, contact Talbott Parten, Quail Forever’s regional representative in Florida and Georgia, at (229) 289-8199 / email.
Pheasants Forever launched Quail Forever in August of 2005 to address the continuing loss of habitat suitable for quail and the subsequent quail population decline. Bobwhite population losses over the last 25 years range from 60 to 90 percent across the country. The reason for the quail population plunge is simple - massive losses of habitat suitable for quail. There are five major factors leading to the losses of quail habitat; intensified farming and forestry practices, succession of grassland ecosystems to forests, overwhelming presence of exotic grasses like fescue that choke out wildlife, and urban sprawl.
