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Post by Dutch on May 3, 2013 17:19:30 GMT -5
Ok, I read the article about the Montour WPRA.
Clarify something for me. It seems to be saying that there are 170,000 acres of CREP in the WPRA.
I know that can't be true. They mean 170,000 acres of CREP in the Susquehanna Basin, correct?
How many acres is the WPRA and how many acres of CREP are in the WPRA?
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Post by Roosterslammer on May 3, 2013 20:21:08 GMT -5
You are correct. That is the whole Susquehanna basin in PA. I don't currently know the CREP acres in the WPRA. I'm sure it's in the thousands and the whole WPRA is 100,000 acres. Montour County alone had 7,000 acres of CREP and much of it is in the WPRA.
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Post by Dutch on May 3, 2013 21:06:24 GMT -5
I know the birds are not spread evenly across that 100,000 ac. WPRA, are they across the entire WPRA tho?
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Post by Fldbred on May 4, 2013 11:22:27 GMT -5
In some instances the acreage of CREP inside the WPRA's actually rival the acreage that was enrolled in Soil Bank Program, and we ALL know how that benefited wildlife, especially upland birds .
A County inside the WPRA.
1964 - 6,819 ACRES
2009 - 7,609 ACRES
Pretty amazing isn't it!
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Post by Dutch on May 4, 2013 18:02:48 GMT -5
Good numbers. But, even comparing those numbers, farming practices in 1964 allowed weeds in between corn rows. We picked corn instead of chopping it, and there was waste corn left for wildlife. That is not the case today. Also, there were more hedgerows back then compared to now. Also, the switchgrass component on most of that CREP acreage isn't high enough for the best winter cover. That can be corrected, with lots of time and money.
That all said, I am heartened by your acreage numbers. This isn't 1964, but sounds like a pretty good start.
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Post by Fldbred on May 4, 2013 19:03:31 GMT -5
It may not be 1964, but the WILD pheasants of 2013 sure are thriving in all that acreage! Thanks for your words of encouragement.  |
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Post by Dutch on May 4, 2013 19:14:46 GMT -5
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Post by Roosterslammer on May 5, 2013 17:05:54 GMT -5
Dutch, we run four routes through the wpra. A couple are near the edges so we can gauge expansion. My route of 9 milrs has birds at every stop. Just a couple of years ago it was common for me to have 2 or 3 stops with no birds The birds are spread out over the whole WPRA but densities vary based on habitat quality.
I stopped today to listen at a switchgrass field about 1/2 mile outside the wpra boundary and heard 3 roosters. Since this field is outside the wpra it may be hunted so there may be many more hens than roosters there. I will talk to the landowner and see if it is hunted. We would have to flush the field in Feb and determine the hen/rooster ratio to get an idea of the hen numbers.
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Post by Dutch on May 5, 2013 17:35:17 GMT -5
How many more weekends will you be running routes?
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