National Sportsmen’s Advisory Council to Interior, Ag Departments

By Justin Stakes

Urges Jewell, Vilsack to Support Bobwhite Restoration Efforts

Fairfax, VA -(Ammoland.com)- National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) efforts to restore wild bobwhites across their historic range received a boost on the national stage recently when the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (WHHCC) urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to essentially adopt NBCI’s strategies on lands they manage or influence.

The WHHCC is a federally appointed group advising both departments and is composed of national hunting, conservation, industry and shooting sports leaders. The council said adoption and support of NBCI’s approach would “proactively avert problems that have occurred with other declining game bird species like Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Greater Sage-Grouse.” The council said while multi-state plans had been crafted to deal with those species because of the fear of an endangered species listing, that same situation with bobwhites could be avoided by being proactive.

To reestablish bobwhites in their historic agricultural and forested settings, the council offered four strategies:

• establish diverse native grasslands and wildflowers on idled acres of marginal croplands and other rural landscapes

• convert up to one-third of existing tame pasture …read more

  Source:: AmmoLand