WHEREAS, the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is a popular game bird indigenous to much of the eastern United States, and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Bobwhite population has declined an average of 3% per year since 1966 (LDWF website – Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) 2.0 Executive Summary, Mar 2011; pg 3), and
WHEREAS, the Bobwhite faces a distinct and imminent threat of extirpation in significant portions of its range, and
WHEREAS, the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agency Directors determined in 1998 that the time had come for serious action to stem the alarming decline of Bobwhites and the Directors instructed the Southeast Quail Study Group Technical Committee to develop a habitat-based Bobwhite recovery plan that could foster large-scale coordinated, collaborative action at the regional level, and
WHEREAS, in March 2002, the first edition of the resulting Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative was completed (NBCI is the first landscape-scale habitat restoration and population recovery plan for bobwhites in the US), and
WHEREAS, in approximately March 2011, the Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative version 2 was released to the public, and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) states on their website merely that “Louisiana is currently working on a Louisiana Bobwhite recovery plan that will incorporate the latest NBCI information.”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Louisiana Wildlife Federation respectfully requests LDWF provide an annual website update on specific annual accomplishments and specific future plans and target dates regarding the Louisiana Bobwhite recovery plan until Louisiana Bobwhite recovery objectives have been accomplished.
Adopted by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation in Convention Assembled, March 11, 2012 in Covington, Louisiana.