Results from the 2012 Quail Action Plan Landowner Survey
Date
2012
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Trenton, N.J. : New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Fish and Wildlife
Abstract
A survey was conducted in the winter of 2012 to determine the current practices and
preferences of New Jersey landowners. Landowners were chosen from three southern counties that
remain primarily rural, agricultural areas. Five hundred eighty‐one mail questionnaire surveys were sent
to landowners that received a Farmer Deer Shotgun Permit. Completed surveys were returned from
219 respondents for an adjusted response rate of 37.7%. The average parcel size was 103 acres.
Landowners had been farming/managing their land for an average of 24 years and 82% said that they
had their primary residence on their land parcel. Sixty‐six percent of these parcels contained hardwood
forests, 63% contained row crops, 49% had pasture/hay, 47% contained at least some wetlands and 22%
contained pine forests. Sixty‐five percent of landowners indicated some level of interest in managing for
quail on their property and only 13% indicated low or no interest in managing for quail. Seventy‐two
percent of landowners said they actively manage for wildlife on their property. The most common type
of wildlife management was food plots (85%), followed by 66% for field borders and hedgerows, 17% for
pine thinning, livestock fencing and fallow cropping, 15% for rotational disking and 5% for prescribed
burning. Landowners considered 42% of their land cover for wildlife. Only 16% of landowners indicated
that they received financial assistance through government programs. Fifty‐nine percent of landowners
said they were interested in providing habitat for quail on their land. However, only 20% of landowners
indicated that they were willing to convert some of their land into quail habitat; an additional 39% said
maybe/unsure and 41% said they would not convert their land into quail habitat.
Description
Keywords
New Jersey, Rural landowners - New Jersey, Northern bobwhite - Habitat