thumbs up for CURE program

["Harrold, Eric S" <esharrol@email.uncc.edu>]

Cbirders,

For those of you a bit older than myself(27) that have lived east of the
mountains, you can probably remember a time when hearing a Bobwhite's
whistle in the spring was commonplace. Likewise, most of the same people
have noticed the steady decline in Bobwhites over the past 20 years. During
this time, much emphasis on reversing the decline was centered on predator
control. It was (and unfortunately still is by the blatantly ignorant)
thought that avian and mammalian predators were largely responsible for the
decline in quail nummbers, interestingly at a time when many raptor species
were far less abundant than at the present time. It has taken thousands of
dead predators, years of failure, and a waste of an enormous amount of money
to convince small game interests throughout the state that apparently they
were barking up the wrong tree. Finally, folks at the North Carolina
Resources Commission and NCSU along with local Quail Unlimited chapters have
teamed together to promote CURE (maybe a little off, but
anyway....Conserving Upland Habitat by Restoration and Enhancement). These
folks organize participating landowners who collectively own thousands of
acres (not sure of min or max required for program involvement). It is
refreshing to see a proactive approach to habitat conservation, the problem
confronting many early successional species, not just Bobwhites, take the
stage as opposed to fruitless efforts that exploit predators. Hopefully,
this effort will garner the necessary financial and community support to
sustain a long-term program that will improve upland habitat. Other species
such as Prairie Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chats, and American Woodcock could
potentially benefit on CURE program lands. This is a venture where birdes
and hunters would gain the most by joining together for their respective
causes. Hats off to Carl Betsill and Terry Sharpe of the NCWRC and Pete
Bromley of NCSU for promoting a habitat focused recovery for Bobwhites.

Eric Harrold
Charlotte, NC