For the first time, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division is asking the public to participate in the annual wild turkey brood survey, which starts on June 1 and ends on August 31.
Caleb Blake, WFF’s Upland Game Bird Coordinator, said previously the survey participants have been from WFF staff and trusted partners. With the slow decline of turkey populations in the South, WFF is asking for assistance from private citizens to try and gather better data to understand what is affecting those populations.
“We have data back to 2010 from our staff surveys, and in 2019 we partnered with the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) and the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) Technical Committee with its standardized brood survey that is used all over the Southeastern states,” Blake said. “A lot of states have done the survey with staff only. Other states have included private citizens in the survey…