LITTLE ROCK - As a part of the Arkansas Game Fish Commission’s increased quail management efforts, six landowner meetings will be held throughout the state during late January and February.

The meetings are a cooperative effort among the AGFC, U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Each meeting will highlight financial incentives and opportunities available to landowners for the establishment of wildlife habitat on their property. 

“This series of meetings is simply an attempt to spread the word about current opportunities for everyone’s benefit,” said Brad Carner, AGFC quail program coordinator.

The USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) offer incentives to landowners who improve habitat for wildlife. Particular attention will be given to CRP’s recently developed Continuous Practice 33 (Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds). 

Under CP33, Arkansas farmers will be able to enroll up to 12,000 acres as buffer zones for wildlife. The enrollment period will continue until all 12,000 acres are assigned or until the end of 2007. These buffer zones around cropland will create habitat for quail, grassland birds, reptiles and amphibians, reduce erosion and protect water quality. 

FSA will pay farmers $100 for each acre they enroll, plus up to $65 per acre for each year of the 10-year contract. In return, farmers will agree to plant grasses and shrubs to restore native wildlife. Through cost-sharing and incentive payments, landowners will pay 10 percent of the planting costs. Buffers may be from 30 feet to 120 feet wide, and up to 10 percent of a buffer may be planted in fruit- and seed-bearing shrubs.

“Current opportunities within CRP can provide a win-win situation for landowners and wildlife managers alike,” Carner said. “In many cases, a farmer will be financially better off to enroll marginal cropland into CRP and, at the same time, the resulting habitat that is established will provide critical habitat for quail, turkey, deer and declining grassland songbirds.

“It really boils down to a matter of information and education. Once landowners are made aware of the financial incentives currently available, they are typically willing to enroll any acres that are considered marginal - prone to flooding, adjacent to timbered areas, etc.”

Interested farmers may contact Carner at 501-223-6395. Each meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m., and a meal will be served at 6 p.m. Here are the dates and locations:

Jan. 25 - Pine Bluff, Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center.

Jan. 27 - Texarkana, Rural Electric Association Building.

Feb. 1 - Searcy, Riverview High School.

Feb. 3 - Morrilton, Conway County Multipurpose Building (at the fairgrounds).

Feb. 8 - Wynne, Kelly’s Restaurant.