Vote early, vote often

I'm not talking about the Presidential election, I'm talking about something that matters. SportDOG is giving a $25,000 grant to the proposed project receiving the most votes in its Future Forward Fund competition.  Of the 7 finalists, the one that caught my eye was developed by Dr. Theron Terhune of Tall Timbers.  From the proposal page on the SportDOG website:

Operation Outdoors is a designed to bring students to the outdoor classroom by providing a field site for undergraduate curriculums, especially for underserved universities and colleges. The intent of the project is to foster the integration of hunting and game management into education. The ultimate goal of this project is to conserve and protect upland and grassland ecosystems, the species inhabiting them, and retaining the hunting legacy.

There are several other proposals that would benefit upland birds including one aimed at prairie chicken habitat and another at bobwhite focal areas.  Both of these are extremely worthy of consideration, and this may be the only time you'll hear me advocate not voting for a quail project, but Theron's project edges out the others because of one word: leverage. The other proposals are geographically limited. Theron's project, by educating and inspiring a group of young biologists, holds the potential to impact a far greater area for decades to come.

Habitat work is vitally important, arguably the most critical piece of the puzzle that is declining numbers of many species of gamebirds.  As long as there are adequate numbers of habitat specialists and supporters the work will get done.  Maintaining that adequate number necessitates efforts to recruit and train them.  

You can vote as often as once a day between now and November 30.  Don't be disenfranchised -  do it before Al Sharpton gets wise to it.