Habitat problems are one of the factors at the root of the pheasant and quail decline in Maryland. More efficient farming, loss of habitat due to development and insect control all combine to reduce quality habitat for the birds, concentrating them into smaller and smaller areas and making the birds and their eggs a lot easier for predators to get at.

Research shows that about 5,000 acres are necessary to sustain a viable, healthy quail or pheasant population. At certain times of year, quail need to be able to disperse to breed with and interact with other coveys, and smaller parcels of land don't allow for that.

LANDOWNER HABITAT INCENTIVES
To try and stem the decline in the quail and pheasant populations, the state uses several different landowner incentive programs.

The Federal Farm Bill of 1996 authorized the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and then re-authorized it in 2002. The CRP provides financial incentives to remove agricultural lands from production.

The CRP has a dual objective of protecting water quality and providing wildlife habitat. After enrolling their acreage in the CRP, landowners receive annual compensation for the life of the contract. Sign-up bonuses and other incentives are also provided, depending on the type of enrollment.

Research has shown that the edges of a crop field are typically the field's least productive portion. Under the program, farmers receive supplemental income on their marginal lands, and quail habitat is created.

Many of the buffers are planted in native warm-season grasses, providing abundant nesting and brood-rearing habitat for upland birds. By the end of 2005, over 70,000 acres of agricultural land in Maryland had been converted to grass buffers or riparian forest buffers.

Over 40,000 acres of linear buffers have been planted on the Eastern Shore -- traditionally the portion of the state that holds the best bobwhite populations. This has helped give existing quail populations a means of moving and mingling, thus giving the birds a better reproduction base.

In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture started a new CRP practice called "Bobwhite Buffers." It specifically targets bobwhite quail and their habitat. If and when it is put in widespread use, the initiative has the potential to restore thousands of acres of habitat and could be the key to reversing the quail population decline.

Enrollment in the Bobwhite Buffers program is completely voluntary. It requires the landowner to establish a 35- to 120-foot buffer of planted or native vegetation around the perimeter of enrolled crop fields. In return, the landowner or farmer receives annual rental payments for the life of the 10-year contract.

Research has shown that the edges of a crop field are typically the field's least productive portion. Under the program, farmers receive supplemental income on their marginal lands, and quail habitat is created. This not only helps the birds, but also gives landowners a way of protecting their land for future generations.

The Bobwhite Buffers program is capped at 2,100 acres in Maryland. As a result, the program's efforts are being centered in areas with the greatest potential to provide for quail habitat needs, which are Dorchester, Queen Anne's, Kent, Talbot, Caroline, Wicomico, Somerset, Charles, St. Mary's, Worcester, and Calvert counties. The programs we mentioned are a no-lose situation, giving the landowners all the options they need to make their property ideal for quail and other wildlife while maintaining crop production -- and getting a stipend for their efforts as well.

NEW JERSEY PHEASANTS & QUAIL
In recent years, pheasant hunting in the Garden State has seen some real ups and downs. Native pheasants were once commonplace in and around the plentiful farm fields of New Jersey. Over the last couple of decades, however, stocked birds have become the norm, as more and more habitat is lost to development.