Fish and Game Backs Governor's Game Bird Initiative

When Governor Dirk Kempthorne and Fish and Game Director Rod Sando get together for a little bird hunting in the Clearwater Region this month, it will be more than simply a nice day afield. The occasion will mark the beginning of the Governor's pheasant and quail initiative, one of the Kempthorne administration's efforts to restore Idaho's rural economies while improving the state's natural heritage. The Governor announced in July that he would like to improve pheasant and quail hunting in Idaho. Director Sando expressed Fish and Game's enthusiastic support of the initiative and asked wildlife managers for a plan to increase upland game bird populations and improve hunting opportunities. Kempthorne's concept calls for weaving together various conservation programs in key agricultural areas to accelerate the restoration of pheasant and quail habitat. The plan will be tailored to fit conditions in a variety of Idaho regions. For instance, in the Clearwater Region priorities include creating or enhancing nesting cover in blocks of undisturbed grassy cover of 20 acres or more, improving winter habitat of shrubby thermal and escape cover as well as standing food plots, protecting streamside cover in key pheasant range and gaining hunter access on private land. Fish and Game seeks to incorporate water quality, salmon recovery and Farm Bill conservation programs into this initiative. Pheasants Forever chapters have been asked to help with the efforts. Fish and Game Habitat improvement Program (HIP) funds will be allocated as cost-share incentives. The region spent $20,000 on pheasant habitat in fiscal year 2001 but $90,000 has been allocated to the region for 2002. The Southwest Region will see a similar rise in habitat spending, from $80,000 to $120,000 in the new fiscal year. Priorities will be the same as in the Clearwater and efforts will be focused on the river corridors along the Snake, Weiser, Payette and Boise where agriculture and riparian area interface. Improvements in quail numbers will receive special emphasis in the Southwest. Specially-tailored plans are in the works for all the major upland bird regions of Idaho.