April AWOL Chapter of Nacogdoches Makes Landscape-Level Impact

Over 700 members of the Nacogdoches, Texas community gather to support the NWTF mission. Photo courtesy of Don Irwin.

The NWTF April AWOL Chapter in the Nacogdoches, Texas area recently made a $20,000 donation to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for the Northeast Texas Conservation Delivery Network’s Habitat Incentive Program.

This increased funding will provide critical habitat enhancements in priority areas in northeast Texas, such as where the Eastern wild turkey has been reintroduced into Texas as part of TPWD’s Super Stocking Program.

Once prevalent in east Texas, the Eastern wild turkey was reduced to an estimated 100 birds in the mid-1900s. Since 2014, the TPWD’s Super Stocking Program, the process of releasing 70-plus birds at a time, has provided east Texas with excellent results and a bright future for the subspecies in the region.

However, TPWD only releases birds on quality habitat where the translocated turkeys will have a higher chance of survival and reproduction. This includes at least 10,000 acres of contiguous land and the essential habitat features that turkeys need to flourish. Habitat is scored and approved before translocation efforts can begin.

Quality habitat is where the April AWOL’s contribution will be allocated.

Through the Habitat Incentive Program, the April AWOL Chapter’s contribution will bolster habitat management practices that benefit both native and translocated wild turkeys. Work includes prescribed burning and invasive species removal to create the essential habitat for wild turkey’s annual cycle needs, including nesting and brood-rearing, annual forage and roosting habitats. This one-two punch of on-the-ground habitat management and super stocking optimizes the long-term sustainability of Eastern wild turkeys in east Texas.

The NWTF chapter’s donation will be matched 3:1, turning it into an $80,000 investment after being leveraged through TPWD.

To date, the Habitat Incentive Program has spent over $1.2 million across 25,500 acres of high-priority landscapes for wild turkeys and many other species.

Annie Farrell, NWTF district biologist for Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma is a steering committee member and the Habitat Incentive Program administrator for the Northeast Texas Conservation Delivery Network.

Read the whole story here…

https://www.nwtf.org/content-hub/local-nwtf-chapter-makes-landscape-level-impact