Turkey Season Summary - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

T U R K E Y C O N S E R V A T I O N I N A R K A N S A SStand inventory, marking, tree planting andharvest are all on-going habitat managementpractices on state and federal lands. Revenueis generated from the sale of harvested timber,helping offset costs associated with these timberprescriptions. The Forest Service recentlyadopted a new program, Forest Stewardship,that allows them to reinvest timber revenue inwildlife habitat enhancements on federal lands(See Page 30).Prescribed firePrescribed burning is the most economicaltool in the manager’s toolkit to enhance turkeyhabitat. Vigorous herbaceous growth afterprescribed fires creates excellent brood habitat inheavily timbered areas.Recent catastrophic wildfires in Western stateshave resulted in federal legislation letting theForest Service increase prescribed fire on federallands. Frequent, controlled burns eliminate thebuild-up of leaves and other fuels and reduce thechances of major fire events. This increase in fireuse has been welcomed by wildlife biologists, butsome changes have been made to accommodatethe new goal. Prescribed fires are now largerand the burning season is longer, sometimesextending into the early portion of turkeyseason and turkey nesting activities. Biologistsand habitat managers work hard to accomplishprescribed fire objectives while minimizingconflicts.Private lands programsThe AGFC has about a dozen private landsbiologists on staff to assist private landownerswith habitat enhancement projects. Byproviding free, sound management strategies tolandowners, the AGFC has been able to increasethe public’s knowledge of the habitat needs ofgame and non-game animals.In the 1970s, the AGFC started with aflagship private lands program, Acres forWildlife, but biologists now deliver morethan 30 programs as well as informal habitatmanagement advice to landowners. Mostof these programs benefit wild turkeys, butthe Arkansas Forestry Commission’s ForestStewardship program and Farm Bill programsthat result in reforestation of row crop farmlandsare particularly important. The AGFC assistswith the wildlife portion of management plansin Forest Stewardship. Farm Bill reforestationprograms such as the Wetland Reserve Program,Conservation Reserve Program and ContinuousConservation Reserve Program have resulted inseveral hundred thousand acres of reforestationin the Delta region of Arkansas. Many of theseareas are now mature enough to support turkeypopulations, and many more acres will reach thisstatus soon.nnnnnn2007 highlights17,500 acres of prescribed burns on AGFC land525,000 dollars spent on wildlife openingson AGFC land5,500 acres of timber management activitieson AGFC landMore than 200,000 current acres of WRP reforestationin ArkansasTwo part-time prescribed fire bosses hired63 WMAs with wildlife opening projectsnnn93 Forest Stewardshipplans with wildlife asan objective.More than 1.5 millionacres enrolled in Acresfor Wildlife40,000 dollars spenton Acres for WildlifeseedMore than $500,000 is devoted tomaintaining wildlife openings onWMAs annually. Photo courtesy ofthe NWTF.2 0 0 6 - 0 7 T U R K E Y S E A S O N S U M M A R Y 2 7