March Update 2019
An update from Southern Arizona Quail Forever.
Overview:-Only 5 months until dove opens – keep your dog(s) or you in shape.-Joe Bozzo is starting a new job with U.S. Fish and Wildlife up in the Northwest. It is not clear who will take his place at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge [BANWR] but I hope to hear something soon. The habitat work at BANWR continues. We hope to hear male masked bobwhite mating calls in the near future. They are planning additional releases this summer.-USFW received initial Masked Bobwhite genetics results back that allow them to manage the breeding flocks at BANWR and Sutton to continue to maximize genetic diversity as they produce chicks for foster parent releases. Initial findings are that heterogeneity (means they are not all inbred) is pretty good, especially for an endangered bird bred from captive stock out of the wild for 30+ years.-The chapter received a Commission Commendation of Achievement from the AZ G&F commission chairman at a commission meeting in Bisbee on 15 Mar. This was to recognize the work we have done for quail in SE Arizona.-Don’t throw out your outdoor magazines after you read them. Consider clipping your name and address out and taking them to your barber shop or doctors office so others can read them.
Access to Public Lands & Habitat
San Rafael Valley. The public has lost driving access to a large area in San Rafael Valley. Details were provided to those that attended our Dec meeting. -CNF is evaluating bypass routes before starting the NEPA process required before road building can start. Work on this effort has been slow, we met with CNF and AZ G&F on 19 Mar and little had been completed since our last meeting. We will keep pressure on.
Habitat:-We have had several members help out with habitat work at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge – thanks! This gives us a special opportunity to help out with the Masked Bobwhite which is an endangered species.-BANWR seed meeting included five local BANWR employees, two USFW employees from Albuquerque, one AZGFD employees from Tucson, three seed and seed applicator employees, Tom Waddell, Jim Levy plus Jim Littlejohn and Howie Swenson. A field trip was done in four different areas so details can be reviewed to put in five field plots—to see what grasses, shrubs & trees produce the best habitat for MBWQ. There are five different groups of released MBWQ that have been living on the refuge for eight months—progress is being made!-Jim and I have had several meetings with the AZGFD Habitat Partnership Committee [HPC] on how the system works. We plan on working with BANWR, 2-3 local ranchers and USFS to work up grants to apply for HPC funding to do habitat projects. The goal of our chapter habitat committee is to provide several options where our chapter funding and volunteer labor is used to increase the quail habitat in Santa Cruz and Pima counties. -Rodd Richardson meet with several folks from CNF to assess grazing. In general they found conditions good but there were a few cases where remedies are required. The working relationship with CNF was very good. Rodd is a retired USFS Forest Supervisor.
G
Gambels Translocation Project:-
The project to move birds from urban golf courses to rural areas needing birds is going well. They were able to capture and release 198 “urban” birds, consisting of 117 males, and 81 females, and the birds were split fairly equally between two ranches in Altar Valley. 75 of the females were collared. -As of 19 Mar, 15 of those collared have been confirmed dead, and 14 have gone missing. However, Cherie (the grad student) has located at least 3 collared birds much farther away from the release site than anticipated, so it may just be a matter of looking in the right place, and the transmitters have a limited range.
Chapter Meetings:-
Our meetings will start again in November.-There has been discussion of moving another one of our meetings to the Tucson area – what are your thoughts on this.-I have received a request for another vet presentation and for Kirby to talk about how to hunt quail. What else do you want to see?-Please send me your thoughts on our meetings to help us provide what members want.
Banquet: -We reviewed lessons from our banquet to make next years event even better. Next years banquet is scheduled for Sat 1 Feb.-We are still looking for a new banquet chair.
Family Day/Youth Hunt:-
Next year it is scheduled 29 Feb.-Mike Wilbur met with PSE archery which has shown interest in helping us next year.
AZ Sportsman for Wildlife Conservation (AZSFWC):-SAQF has joined AZSFWC. You can sign up for their enews at http://azsfwc.org-This gives us access to their wildlife grants and allows us to better coordinate with other wildlife groups.-Please consider purchasing a AZSFWC license plate to support wildlife when you renew your current AZ plate. The fee for this license supports the grants provided by AZSFWC.
Chapter Website and Facebook:
We work to keep our sites current. If you see an error or recommendation for improvement please let us know. We are always looking for pictures, stories or articles to add. Many of you have seen our slide show that we show at QuailFest and the banquet – if you have pictures that would be a good addition please send them to me.
Volunteers needed: Please consider volunteering to be a member of one of our committees. We need help on habitat, banquet and youth committees or you can just help out with an event like QuailFest, the banquet, road cleanup or BANWR habitat.
Brittany Pups:Pat Nissen’s expects a litter on the ground mid Apr. If you have an interest contact Pat at (314) 780-4977. She has a track record or breeding quality hunters.
Future Dates:
- TBD Oct Scaled Quail Covey Count Bonita
- 18 Oct Desert Quail Opens
- 21 Nov Chapter Meeting American Legion Sahuarita
- TBD Nov Fall Road Cleanup
- 6 Dec Mearns Opens
- 8 Dec QuailFest
- 12 Dec Chapter Meeting Fairgrounds Sonoita
- 16 Jan 20 Chapter Meeting Fairgrounds Sonoita
- 1 Feb 20 8th Annual Banquet Sonoita
- 9 Feb 20 Quail Closes
- 14-16 Feb Quail Classic Minneapolis
- 20 Feb 20 Chapter Meeting Fairgrounds Sonoita
- TBD Feb 20 Winter Road Cleanup
- 29 Feb 20 Family Day/Youth Hunt
- 19 Mar 20 Chapter Meeting American Legion Sahuarita
- TBD 20 Chapter Officer Election Cycle
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