When it comes to getting boots on the ground for private lands conservation, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever is a leader. This episode we are joined by Quail Forever Tennessee State Coordinator, Brittney Viers, to discuss all the work PF & QF does for wildlife on private lands. From Farm Bill Biologists to Precision Ag & Conservation Specialists, tune in to learn about the wide-ranging roles of PFQF employees, and how they work to create and enhance habitat on private lands.

Help us improve the podcast by taking this Habitat University Listener Feedback Survey: https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oteinFuEzFCDmm

Resources from the episode:

Find your local Pheasants Forever or Quail Forever Biologist: https://quailforever.org/Habitat/findBiologist.aspx

Contact a Precision Ag & Conservation Specialist: https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Conservation/Precision-Agriculture/Contact.aspx

Dr. Chris Moorman rejoins the podcast to discuss the use of prescribed fire during nesting season. Plus, gain inside details on the studies Dr. Moorman has led concerning burn timing as it relates to ground nesting birds. 

Papers:

• Kilburg, Eric L., et al. "Wild turkey nest survival and nest‐site selection in the presence of growing‐season prescribed fire." The Journal of Wildlife Management 78.6 (2014): 1033-1039.

• Kilburg, Eric L., et al. "Wild turkey prenesting-resource selection in a landscape managed with frequent prescribed fire." Southeastern Naturalist 14.1 (2015): 137-146.

• Kroeger, Anthony J., et al. "Northern bobwhite non‐breeding habitat selection in a longleaf pine woodland." The Journal of Wildlife Management 84.7 (2020): 1348-1360.

• Winiarski, Jason M., et al. "Nest-site selection and nest survival of Bachman's Sparrows in two longleaf pine communities." The Condor: Ornithological Applications 119.3 (2017): 361-374.

Dr. Chris Moorman (habitatdoc) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Marcus Lashley (DrDisturbance) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Will Gulsby (dr_will_gulsby) (Academic Profile)

Turkeys for Tomorrow (turkeysfortomorrow) 

UF DEER Lab (ufdeerlab)

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family.

Produced by Charlotte Nowak

Dr. Colter Chitwood re-joins the podcast to give us an update of the on-going turkey research in the state of Oklahoma. Learn details of the hunter-led work estimating vital rates to increase poult per hen ratios, and learn how state-wide genetics can help us understand turkey movement across the landscape.

Dr. Colter Chitwood (Academic Profile)

Dr. Marcus Lashley (DrDisturbance) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Will Gulsby (dr_will_gulsby) (Academic Profile)

Turkeys for Tomorrow (turkeysfortomorrow)  

UF DEER Lab (ufdeerlab)

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org.

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family.

Produced by Charlotte Nowak

Today, Alex and Jared explore how livestock producers and researchers are working together to adapt old world tools into new world technologies to help reduce conflicts. They’ll look at how innovative solutions can often be simple, and how new tools can help keep people, livestock, and wildlife safe.

Full show notes: https://workingwild.us/season-one/12-co-producing-technology-to-reduce-conflict/

Did you know that fish much larger than you with a mouth full of sharp teeth might be swimming just below the surface of your favorite swimming hole? Don’t worry, these ancient creatures do not have a taste for humans. In this episode, Wes interviews Matt Wegener (Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission) and Kayla Kimmel (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service) about the biology and conservation of one of North America’s largest fish, the Alligator Gar.

Do you have questions or comments? Follow the Fish University Facebook community and chat with Wes or suggest future episodes - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087242320601

In this episode, Alex and Jared dive into techniques that can help ranchers reduce conflicts between wolves and livestock. They’ll explore how a new spin on an old tool increases the effectiveness of fencing, how putting riders back on the range can have a multitude of benefits, and how one valley in Montana is working together to compost carcasses to reduce attractants on the landscape.

But applying these tools takes know-how, money, and time. Who pays for conflict reduction efforts that support both wildlife and working lands?

Full show notes: https://workingwild.us/season-one/11-old-world-tools-to-new-world-technology/

We review our recent episodes on the density dependence hypothesis, what we learned from conversations with experts, and implications this may have on management of the wild turkey moving forward. 

Papers:

• Bond, Bobby T., et al. "Thirty-year case study showing a negative relationship between population and reproductive indices of eastern wild turkeys in Georgia." Georgia Journal of Science 70.2 (2012): 5.

Dr. Marcus Lashley (DrDisturbance) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Will Gulsby (dr_will_gulsby) (Academic Profile)

Turkeys for Tomorrow (turkeysfortomorrow) 

UF DEER Lab (ufdeerlab)

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Produced by Charlotte Nowak

In this episode, we give you an update on the ongoing projects in Alabama including preliminary results on which gobblers can breed, the most common predators of nests, effects of hunting on gobbling, and more. 

Paper: Proportion of tom’s had testes large enough that they could breed

Dr. Marcus Lashley (DrDisturbance) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Will Gulsby (dr_will_gulsby) (Academic Profile)

Turkeys for Tomorrow (turkeysfortomorrow) 

UF DEER Lab (ufdeerlab)

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Produced by Charlotte Nowak 

In this episode, we take on the difficult subject of casualty loss. This is a subject no landowner looks forward to, but planning for the worst is sound planning. Join us as we discuss what the IRS considers a casualty, how to determine your loss in the eyes of the IRS, and how best to move forward, from a Forest Tax perspective, after one occurs.  

Resources:

Tips for Landowners Attempting to Salvage Hurricane Damaged Timber 

For questions or comments, email us at [email protected]

Be sure to subscribe directly to Timber University and follow NRU on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Is density dependence operating on wild turkeys? Dr. Bret Collier walks us through his point of view on density dependence and whether it is responsible for observed changes in turkey populations. We cover a lot of ground and discuss various aspects of wild turkey biology from many studies and regions. 

Papers 

• Byrne, M. E., Chamberlain, M. J., & Collier, B. A. (2015). Potential density dependence in wild turkey productivity in the southeastern United States. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 11, pp. 329-351). 

• Collier, B. A., Melton, K. B., Hardin, J. B., Silvy, N. J., & Peterson, M. J. (2009). Impact of reproductive effort on survival of Rio Grande wild turkey Meleagris gallop intermedia hens in Texas. Wildlife Biology, 15(4), 370-379. 

• Randel, C. J., Aguirre, R., Jones, D. A., Schaap, J. N., Willsey, B. J., Peterson, M. J., & Silvy, N. J. (2005). Nesting ecology of Rio Grande wild turkey in the Edwards Plateau of Texas. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 9, pp. 37-243). 

• Schwertner, T. W., Peterson, M. J., & Silvy, N. J. (2007). Effect of precipitation on Rio Grande wild turkey poult production in Texas. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 9, pp. 127-132). 

Dr. Bret Collier (drshortspur) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Marcus Lashley (DrDisturbance) (Academic Profile)

Dr. Will Gulsby (dr_will_gulsby) (Academic Profile)

Turkeys for Tomorrow (turkeysfortomorrow) 

UF DEER Lab (ufdeerlab)

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Produced by Charlotte Nowak