Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever in Kansas

❓❓❓ Do you know this butterfly ❓❓❓
Clue #1: It loves wooded areas.
Clue #2: These butterflies like visiting puddles.
Clue #3: The answer is in the QUESTION!

Answer: the question mark butterfly! Note the silvery curved line and dot on the underside of the butterfly's wing. Pollinators such as this butterfly are integral to upland bird chicks' diets. Conserving and enhancing diverse habitat will provide a high abundance and diversity of this important food source!

Meet the Team Monday!!! Welcome to one of our newest biologists, Krista! Check out more about her and get in touch at [email protected].

Bringing the family into conservation!
Habitat Specialist, Russel Haynes, needed to replant some fields around his house. He got the kids involved and had great results! "I took the opportunity to attempt the planting while the ground was clean and bare. I have previously had quail around my home and wanted to give them a space to feed and have cover while also having a low maintenance area that looks visually pleasing and would be safe on top of a new septic system." 🌻🌻🌻

Do your field edges look like this??? 👀👀👀 Studies have shown that yields within 30 feet of a treeline can decrease by 30% or more!
Consider habitat buffers! Planting anywhere from 30-120 feet of native prairie habitat around your field separates trees from your crops and provides native habitat for wildlife! This will help to mitigate yield losses while increasing wildlife, soil, and water benefits simultaneously! You can even consider enrolling in the CRP program for a guaranteed rental rate each year on these buffers. Get in touch for more info!

It is Meet the Team Monday once again! Read more about habitat specialist, Michael, below and be sure to say 'hi' when you visit Wilson Wildlife Area!

POV: you are a quail making a deal with a friendly landowner. ⚠⚠⚠
All jokes aside- this is your reminder that prairie habitat is not a once-and-done thing! Prairie establishment usually takes 3-5 years due to the nature of our native plants. In addition, it will require regular management to maintain the quality of the cover.

Our biologist team had a CRP training last month to go over program requirements, status reviews, and plant ID. Want to learn more about CRP or see if you need to do maintenance on your current contract? Get in touch with your closest biologist here: https://www.kansaspfqf.org/our-team

We caught King Bob out surveying his territory this morning.

Meet the Team Monday! We are excited to welcome Wyatt to the Kansas team as the new habitat specialist for Melvern Wildlife Area. Read more about him below!

Range School is coming up! If you are a rancher, land manager, or just interested in learning more about the prairie, this is the place for you! Learn plant ID, range management, stocking rates, forage allocation, and more.
Get more information and register here: https://www.kglc.org/kansas-range-academies-registration.cfm

Milkw**d in the Classroom goes outside! 🦋 Milkw**d in the Classroom is a Pheasants Forever program focused on wildlife habitat education for school children. Rich Ballard, president of the Pheasants Forever Sunflower Chapter in Oberlin, Kansas, organized a 4th grade class field trip earlier this spring to plant a pollinator garden in a city park. This field trip taught the importance of healthy soils, the connection between pollinators and upland birds, and the importance of community! Rich worked with a local greenhouse to grow the milkw**d for the program and the kids helped plant it!
If your class or chapter would like to be a part of an activity like this, check out the link for more info and get in touch! (https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Conservation/Habitat-Education/Milkw**d-in-the-Classroom.aspx)

Meet the Team Monday! We've got a second habitat specialist stationed at Tuttle Creek Wildlife Area now. If you are ever in northeast Kansas, stop by & check out all the great work they are doing up there! Welcome Marcus!

We are always making moves to improve as a team! 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻 Biologists Liz Eney and Manager Brenna Riley recently attended Conservation Planning Part 2 Training in Salina. They learned about different considerations and concepts involved in conservation planning and worked through assessments conducted on cropland, forest, pastureland, and rangeland.

It's Meet the Team Monday! Today we are excited to introduce you to our new biologist out of Salina! Read more about Elijah here and get in touch with him at [email protected]!

As we come to the end of , you may be wondering why an upland game-focused organization cares so much about bees and butterflies. This is your friendly reminder that good pollinator habitat = good quail and pheasant habitat (and often vice versa!) If you've got a highly diverse native forb plot, this creates excellent forage and shelter for pollinators as well as excellent brood rearing habitat for upland game birds. Whether you care about game species, pollinators, songbirds, soil quality, or something else- we can work to make a difference for all parts of the ecosystem by creating high quality, native habitat!

It's primary nesting season! 🥚🐣🐥 April 15 - July 15 has been designated as the peak of nesting and brooding for ground-nesting species here in Kansas. This means we do our best to avoid major disturbance to native grasslands to give these birds the best chance they can to have a successful nest & brood. Check out some of our recommendations below for this time period.
*If you are enrolled in a conservation cost-share program such as CRP or EQIP, the rules may vary depending on your program and practice. Check in with your local office to be sure you are in compliance!*

Planting into sand??!?!?? Check out this property outside of Kinsley that is an experimental site for growing on sand dunes. Habitat specialist, Scott Kluge, reports after his visit: "The City of Hayes owns this property for water rights and wanted to encourage better grasses see if anything would grow. The area used to be farmed but now the sane dunes pose a challenge not only with getting moisture, but also with holding it in place with all the winds. The last success they had was with triticale, a cereal grain, but we are still waiting to see on the grasses that were planted."
A great reminder to keep that soil covered!!

Ever heard of a Musk Thistle Weevil before? Check out what habitat specialist, Logan Cares, has to say: "Musk Thistles have been listed as a noxious w**d in Kansas for many years. The plant disperses its seeds by wind, making Kansas a prime location to achieve an ever-growing invasion. This year is the first that I have found Musk thistle weevils occupying flowers. These weevils were introduced as a biological control as early as the 1980s. The adult weevil feeds on the plant's leaves and lay their eggs under the flower head. When the larva hatch they burrow into the the flower and feed on the seeds."

It's Meet the Team Monday!!! We are so excited to introduce you all to our new State Coordinator, Tyler! Coming to us straight from the South Dakota Pheasants Forever team, we are looking forward to his leadership in Kansas.

Johnson County Kansas Pheasants Forever teamed up with Olathe County Gun Shop this month to host a Bird Dog First Aid Day- a community event focused on educating bird dog owners about essential first aid techniques. The collaboration aimed to enhance the safety and well-being of hunting dogs by providing expert advice from veterinarian Tom Del Pico, demonstrations of emergency care procedures, and an interactive question and answer session focusing on all things bird dog! The event was well-received, drawing enthusiastic participation from local hunters and dog enthusiasts who appreciated the opportunity to learn valuable skills in a supportive environment!

Practicing what we preach! 🌾🌼🐝 Some of our team members were able to head out to the Kansas State Fair this month to plant some native plant plugs in the beds around the fairgrounds! These will provide forage & shelter for many of our native pollinators that happen to visit the fair! You can see our handiwork this fall when the fair is open from September 6-15.

Did you know that great pollinator habitat makes great habitat for our upland bird?! Contact us if you want a pollinator project in your area - great job by the Walnut River Ringnecks of Pheasants & Quail Forever chapter working with one of their local schools!