Land Acquisition Expands Public Habitat in Missouri

Quail Forever is excited to announce the acquisition of a 160-acre tract of land through the Build a Wildlife Area® program (BAWA). This acquisition was made possible by the Missouri Department of Conservation and a donation from the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund.  

The new acquisition is immediately adjacent to the 646-acre Stony Point Prairie Conservation Area in Dade County, Missouri. This property sits in the Golden Grasslands Priority Geography, a tier one priority area for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and Quail Forever for quail habitat restoration. This acquisition adds publicly accessible habitat in one of Missouri’s core quail landscapes.

The new addition has been improved for grazing with fencing and watering facilities, and those improvements will allow MDC to use rotational grazing as part of its management strategy, just as it does on the adjacent property. The habitat on this property will be restored to native prairie and managed for bobwhite quail and other upland wildlife.

“This addition to Stony Point Prairie Conservation Area underscores the strength of Missouri’s conservation partnerships and the trust behind a shared vision,” says Andrew White, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Missouri senior state coordinator. “This tract expands the public land footprint while advancing restoration of one of the state’s most imperiled ecosystems. Restoring these native grasslands for quail, pheasants, and other wildlife will increase public access and ensure this invaluable habitat is conserved for generations to come.

It is also located in a priority geography for private lands conservation work through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW). This partnership supports conserving America’s working lands to benefit people, wildlife, and rural communities. Connecting public land conservation work to conservation efforts happening on private land in these core quail areas is an important part of maintaining and restoring habitat that goes beyond the borders of public land.

Build a Wildlife Area is Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s signature habitat protection program delivering strategic acquisitions to conserve habitat and increase public hunting access. The program strives to create functional landscapes supporting wild, sustainable populations of upland birds and other wildlife, while providing ancillary benefits to natural resources and communities. Since 1982, the program has permanently protected more than 247,000 acres of publicly accessible habitat in 16 states.

The new addition to Stony Point Prairie Conservation Area will be transferred to MDC for management. The Stony Point acquisition brings the total number of acres for BAWA in Missouri to 903 acres since 2021. Those 903 acres provide new publicly accessible upland habitat that will be protected in perpetuity.

Whether through the BAWA program that creates new public habitat or conservation delivered on private lands through Quail Forever’s team of biologists and habitat crews, Quail Forever is expanding upland habitat and hunting access across the Show-Me State.