Past Efforts
Beginning in 1948, with the Cooperative Farm Game Habitat Development Project, Commission biologists have initiated numerous projects designed to reverse declining populations of species such as quail and rabbits. Past efforts included:
- Technical guidance to private landowners
- Demonstration farms
- Free seed distribution
- Cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service
- Farm-based research on pesticides, brood habitat, and predator removal (during 1990’s)
Although these efforts produced some good results, they were too limited to make any real impact on wildlife populations. The forces impacting small game and other wildlife are too strong. These forces include:
- An increasing human population
- Larger fields with fewer brushy field borders
- Loss of farms to development
- Increased mechanization of farming
- Loss of farms to forest encroachment
- Changing forestry practices that negatively impact wildlife
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