I was on this forum a few weeks ago asking about the WOS for pups to point. My next door neighbor had gotten a new Brittany pup. I put the neighbor in touch with Jim Willis. Here's an email from Jim to my neighbor.

"Dear Mr. Thompson:

Thank goodness for people like you that have the passion to restore quail. We don’t care where it happens, just so it happens. I am copying our new WHF Program Director, Gary Stephens, who was previously with NRCS/USDA as one of their top biologists/botanists. He knows quail and what quail need as good as anyone and will be able to give you his best opinion as to you most logical course of action. Each time I go through Anderson, I am saddened by the fact that we have lost quail in such picturesque regions due to macro-level habitat changes. Fire ants aren’t good but they are not a chief cause. It’s all about habitat. Please keep up the hope. We have heard quail whistling again in areas where everyone considered them to be extinct but we did habitat restoration anyway. Even if you don't get immediate results, restoring native grass is good for all natural resources and usually increases the value of you land. Texas A&M researchers found 31 species of upland birds after 5 years of habitat work on our ranch.

Best wishes,

Jim Willis"

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/...ail-1764954.php

CAT SPRING — The sparse beauty of the tall grasses and sand plum trees at WW Ranch makes this land near the San Bernard River appear unchanged from a century ago. But the still life can be deceptive.

When hunting buddies Jim Willis and John Webb purchased the 225-acre ranch in 2000, the overgrazed property had become "a wildlife desert," as Willis phrased it. The pasture couldn't support anything but cattle.



So, they replaced the so-called improved grasses commonly planted in the area with native varieties, such as little bluestem and switchgrass, to restore habitat for bobwhite quail and other birds. Scores of them now nest in the grasses while the ranch's cattle graze nearby.

What is happening here is a vision that many see as the coastal prairie's salvation. Biologists blame the loss of habitat, primarily from development and modern farming practices, for a 75 percent drop in Texas' quail population in the past 30 years.

The quail's decline matters because the popular game bird is an "indicator species," meaning their numbers reflect the viability of an ecosystem for other grassland birds. Already, without any attempt to restock, the WW Ranch has a healthy population of one quail per acre, Willis said.