Heroes of Conservation: 2008 Finalist

Dale Rollins, The Quail Professor
College Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist, San Angelo, Texas

In 1991, after reading that bobwhite quail would be extinct in the southeastern United States by 2005, Dale Rollins decided to focus his research on making sure that did not happen. In 2006, he created the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch to develop and test technologies and best management practices.

You know the white feather that follows Forrest Gump around, well, I say that I've had a feather follow me around. Only it's a bobwhite feather. I don't know why, but I knew that I wanted to have a career in conservation. I got my PhD in 1983 and started doing big-game research.

I grew up quail hunting, but it was a dog that made me fall in love with bobwhites all over again. In 1991, I got an English setter named Suzie, and about that time I read a study saying that quail would be extinct in the southeast U.S. by 2005. I had a 1-year-old bird dog, so I was not about to let quail go extinct on my watch. I became sort of the Paul Revere of quail. About 70 percent of my professional research is devoted to quail, but I think about the birds 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And I always make sure I have four dogs. I've learned as much about quail through them as from any research.

I knew I had to do something to ensure the future of quail, so in 1993 I started the Bobwhite Brigade, a summer camp for 13- to 17-year-olds. I tell the kids that unless they go into the military, this camp is going to be the toughest week of their lives. The first thing we do is dissect a quail. And now that the ranch is there, I have graduate students from Texas A&M conduct their theses on quail habitat and management plans. The quail are here in west Texas, but we need to stop the bleeding and start pushing these populations eastward.

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