NEWSROOM

Park Cities Quail 2017 Dinner and Auction

  • Posted on: March 6, 2017

Congratulations to the recipient of the 2017 T. Boone Pickens Lifetime Sportsman Award, Tom Brokaw. Thank you all who attended. Below are articles covering the event.

Our Greatest Wildlife Tragedy

  • Posted on: May 1, 2015

Thanks to your contributions, we have made significant progress in identifying a probable “X Factor” responsible for the unexplained decline of quail populations in the Rolling Plains of West Texas.

The Pointing Dog Journal

  • Posted on: November 2014

  • Article Credits: Tom Davis

In the autumn of 2010, the camel’s back finally broke. After suffering through years of poorer-than-expected bobwhite quail populations – and hearing the same company-line response from the scientific community that it was all due to loss, fragmentation, and/or degradation of habitat – the leadership of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch essentially said, Enough.

Lone Star Outdoor News 

  • Posted on: April 25, 2014

  • Article Credits: Park Cities Quail

Project establishes first-ever genome assembly of bobwhite quail.

Click here to view the full article

In their pursuit to unlock the mystery of bobwhite quail decline in Texas, Park Cities Quail provided funding for a study of the bobwhite quail genome.
The project, which began in 2011 with the harvesting of a wild bobwhite quail test subject from the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch in Roby, has been completed, and the work has been publishing in the current issue of the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
The genetic mapping of this wild bobwhite quail, named Pattie-Marie, could prove to be instrumental in helping researchers understand historic and future bobwhite population trends.
“This is an important piece of the puzzle. It is our hope that this once humble bird will provide the foundation of independent research by scientists all over the world,” said Joe Crafton, who also helped fund the study. “This is a classic example of hunters funding the research that will eventually result in population growth of key wildlife species.”
“By sequencing and assembling the bobwhite quail genome, the team has produced the most comprehensive resource currently available for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in the bobwhite,” said Dr. Chris Seabury of Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine, who led the study. “We now have a more formal resource of studying the bird and identifying new, or perhaps even more specific reasons for its serious decline.”
The bobwhite quail was recently named first on the “Top Ten Bird in Decline” in North America by the Audubon Society. With a population crash from 31 million in 1967, to only 5.5 million in 2007, the bobwhite quail has experienced an 80 percent decline over the past 40 years. With this groundbreaking research on the bobwhite quail genome, it is hope that researchers can identify genetic factors that may play a role in their decline, and perhaps even quail “lineages” with higher resistance to disease and environmental stresses.
– Park Cities Quail

News from Covey Rise

  • Posted on: September 1, 2012

  • Article Credits: Photographer: Ricky Linex

Abilene, Tx – The group consisted of quail researchers , representatives from state agencies, and stakeholders in the quail conservation industry from around the country. Throughout the week, committee meetings and workshops were held to discuss the ongoing efforts to restore native quail populations in the U.S. Of the 25 states participating in the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI), 23 were represented at the meeting in Abilene. The group was also treated to a tour  of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch in Roby. The plenary session on Wednesday included presentations centered on Texas, and included presentations on research, history, youth programs, and general passion related to quail.

Bobwhite quail a vanishing breed in Texas

  • Article Credits: STEVE CAMPBELL

Across the road, a surviving patch of Blackland Prairie that has been reseeded with native grasses is covered with a cornucopia of 170 plant species that together comprise prime habitat for bobwhite quail — if only they could get there.

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