NRCS Employees Recognized by Quail Unlimited

(above from left) Donnie Buckland, Senior VP of QU, presents Mike Andrews with NBCI Award Donnie Buckland and Roger Hansen, Missouri NRCS State Conservationist, accepting NBCI Award for Pat Graham

Missouri NRCS State Biologist Pat Graham and Kentucky NRCS Webster County District Conservationist Mike Andrews were recently recognized by Quail Unlimited (QU) and the Southeast Quail Study Group for their outstanding action in helping implement and promote the Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI).  The NBCI Award presentations were made at the seventy-first annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Columbus, Ohio. 

Pat Graham was recognized for helping incorporate quail-friendly habitat guidelines into several farm bill conservation programs that helped create several thousand acres of early succession wildlife habitat.  He was also recognized for his outstanding habitat management training efforts.  Mike Andrews helped establish almost 1,000 acres of bird habitat buffers through the Conservation Reserve Program and helped enroll of almost 6,000 acres of native grass and forb cover through various NRCS conservation programs and practices – the most acreage of any county in Kentucky.

This is the first year that Federal agency employees were recognized and the second year for the NBCI Awards sponsored by Quail Unlimited.

The NBCI plan was prepared and released in March 2002, by the Southeast Quail Study Group at the request of the Directors of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.  The charge issued to the Study Group was to develop a quantitative habitat-oriented plan to restore bobwhites to the density they enjoyed during the baseline year of 1980.

Quail Unlimited is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the wise use and management of America’s wild quail.
Your contacts are Randall Gray, NRCS National Wildlife Biologist, at 202-690-0856, or Don McKenzie , NBCI Coordinator, at 501-941-7994.