[Applause]
look around what do you see
each other it’s not at aureum these
quail what did you see on your way here
this morning cars road streets traffic
lots of concrete and buildings but you
didn’t see this you are sitting in one
of those critically endangered
ecosystems in North America and it’s
right here in our own backyard in Dallas
Texas that’s right I said one of the
most endangered ecosystem it’s called
the black line period in less than 1/10
of 1% remains in the entire world so
what is the Blackland Prairie the
Blackland Prairie is named for its rich
black soil and tall grasses grass is so
tall you can get lost in them serves as
a habitat for over 500 plant species and
327 different types of birds it was rich
expansive and vibrant that was then in
the past 150 years we humans have had a
devastating effect on the Blackland
Prairie from rapid population growth
crops growing in the Prairie fields and
excessive bison and cattle grazing this
is now check out this map of Texas that
small sliver is where the Blackland
Prairie is of the original 20 million
acres only five thousand remains today
plus it’s shrinking each year so unless
we take some now to preserve and protect
it it will soon be gone forever
these Blackland Prairie plants and
animals are critically endangered with
the we three lose these grasses we lose
a habitat for over 500 plants and 327
birds and other pollinators and Wildlife
the hens doe Sparrow has already become
extinct
dawn forever five years ago in the
seventh grade I learned about the
Blackland Prairie I learned it’s
terrible loss and I felt moved to do
something to help preserve and protected
so I began consulting Texas Master
Naturalist and leading experts in their
field regarding prairie restoration I’ve
visited existing Blackland Prairie
after gathering all these facts and data
I had to act and so I developed a three
pronged approach to save the Blackland
Prairie one moved the invasive grasses
to replant native grasses in their place
and three reintroduce Texas endangered
animals and so I began doing that
Johnson grass and Bermuda grass are
invasive grasses that have overwhelmed
the Blackland Prairie what makes them so
invasive
well they repopulate quickly which
allows them to crowd out native plants
and their seeds survive their seeds can
travel vast distances by wind water air
and can even survive ingestion by most
animals and most importantly their seeds
don’t decompose in the soil for many
years I initially tried several removal
methods physically digging and pulling
chemical removal applications and
suffocation with the plastic black tarp
none of these methods proved to be truly
effective because the grass the Prairie
grab these invasive grasses are so roots
are so deep the roots are over three
feet deep and the chemicals also harm
the native plants as well so I decided
to implement interceding which is an
innovative planting technique which
mimics how seeds grow and germinate in
nature
the sheer number of seeds and these
high-density patches encourages growth
and spread all tamale throughout the
whole meadow to implement this
interesting method I needed seeds so I
went to an existing Blackland Prairie to
gather the seeds you
grabbed at the base of the plant warming
your cup and your hands into a cup and
lift up from the stem the seeds will
stay in the palm of your hand you have
to gather many different types of seeds
to maintain plant diversity such as big
bluestem little bluestem Indian grass
switchgrass and a whole host of wild
flowers now it’s time to sow the seeds
in the Blackland Prairie using the
interceding method dig a small plot put
the seeds in the spot then
stomp-stomp-stomp to break it down more
slowly you dig a small plot where you
remove the invasive grasses from a small
little patch but seeds in the spot where
you plant these high-density patches of
variety of seeds then stomp stomp stomp
this mimics how seeds germinate in
nature we applied this dance and sing
method throughout the whole prairie and
despite our off-key singing it worked
but it takes a long time
I began implementing this method of 5
years ago and I’m just now seeing the
great results from my hard efforts after
we removed the invasive grasses
replanted native grasses it was time to
reintroduce Texas and dangered animals
back into the Blackland Prairie I chose
to save that northern bobwhite quail the
northern bobwhite quail is population
has declined by 82% in the past 50 years
they can live in the Prairie because
they can nest and protect themselves
from predators in the tall prairie
grasses and they get their name from
their mating collar which resembles Bob
Bob white and believe me it’s loud you
heard this call when I was being
introduced and so I began raising quail
and yes my mom said there was a big
thank you for allowing me to do this
imagine our first conversation hey mom
what do you think of me raising over 300
quail in our living room
at least to say it didn’t go over well
at first since 2013
I’ve consulted quail experts and
wildlife biologists to learn the secrets
behind incubating raising hatching and
rearing quail and I obtained my Texas
game bird breeder license which gives me
the authority to raise over a thousand
quail in a year so I began raising quail
there’s actually a lot of science behind
incubating and raising eggs for three
weeks the eggs are kept at a constant
temperature of 99.5 degrees with a
humidity of 55% when they were born we
named a lot of them both
bobwhite that is even when they’re born
they’re very fragile bird with the high
mortality so we keep them in a small box
for two weeks after they go stronger we
move them to a brooder in our backyard
then they learn to walk grow bigger
learn to poop and chirp constantly you
would think that if you cry at some time
but nope finally they get moved to the
backyard in a flight pin where they can
learn to fly and they grow up until
they’re mature enough to be released
back into the Blackland Prairie when
they reach of age and they start laying
these clutches of eggs I gathered their
eggs I start begin incubating them
starting the process all over again now
after I are successfully raised in Rio
quail it was time to reintroduce these
quail back into the Blackland Prairie to
date there is no successful scientific
documentation of successful
reintroductions of northern bobwhite
quail back into the Blackland Prairie
working with wildlife biologists at
Louisville Lake and environmental
learning area known as Lila I have been
banding and releasing quail for three
years basically we take 30 quail 20
females 10 males and in this group
called a cubby we band them with a
single color like red green blue and
then we put them in the flight pin this
is a video of the birds in the flight
pan after we just banded them
if you look closely you might be able to
see a little red band on their feet
after they end the flight pin for a
couple days and they get acclimated to
the tall prairie grasses and everything
else we take them to a different part of
the park then release them and they’re
free
since then we have spotted some of these
quail these right here are some images
of the quail we have released back into
the Blackland Prairie as you can see
they’re potentially health there’s
appear to be healthy and potentially
breeding all on their own these quail
have been successively reintroduced back
into the Blackland Prairie from what
started as a Eagle Scout project many
years ago is blossomed to a whole
community effort with over a hundred
volunteers with 3,000 volunteer hours my
passion to save the Blackland Prairie
star blossoms into this wonderful thing
it’s become something bigger than myself
how can you help well you can remove
invasive grasses at your own house and
plant native grasses in your
neighborhood volunteer at a local nature
center like the Twelve Hills Nature
Center or connemara Conservancy and most
importantly think globally and act
locally to make an impact in our world
the average human lifespan is about 75
years which calculates out to about 2.3
billion seconds that’s a lot of seconds
somewhere along all of those seconds
each of us has the capability power
passion and responsibility to preserve
and protect our world not only for our
generation but for generations to come
how are you going to spend those seconds
you
look around what do you see
each other it’s not at aureum these
quail what did you see on your way here
this morning cars road streets traffic
lots of concrete and buildings but you
didn’t see this you are sitting in one
of those critically endangered
ecosystems in North America and it’s
right here in our own backyard in Dallas
Texas that’s right I said one of the
most endangered ecosystem it’s called
the black line period in less than 1/10
of 1% remains in the entire world so
what is the Blackland Prairie the
Blackland Prairie is named for its rich
black soil and tall grasses grass is so
tall you can get lost in them serves as
a habitat for over 500 plant species and
327 different types of birds it was rich
expansive and vibrant that was then in
the past 150 years we humans have had a
devastating effect on the Blackland
Prairie from rapid population growth
crops growing in the Prairie fields and
excessive bison and cattle grazing this
is now check out this map of Texas that
small sliver is where the Blackland
Prairie is of the original 20 million
acres only five thousand remains today
plus it’s shrinking each year so unless
we take some now to preserve and protect
it it will soon be gone forever
these Blackland Prairie plants and
animals are critically endangered with
the we three lose these grasses we lose
a habitat for over 500 plants and 327
birds and other pollinators and Wildlife
the hens doe Sparrow has already become
extinct
dawn forever five years ago in the
seventh grade I learned about the
Blackland Prairie I learned it’s
terrible loss and I felt moved to do
something to help preserve and protected
so I began consulting Texas Master
Naturalist and leading experts in their
field regarding prairie restoration I’ve
visited existing Blackland Prairie
after gathering all these facts and data
I had to act and so I developed a three
pronged approach to save the Blackland
Prairie one moved the invasive grasses
to replant native grasses in their place
and three reintroduce Texas endangered
animals and so I began doing that
Johnson grass and Bermuda grass are
invasive grasses that have overwhelmed
the Blackland Prairie what makes them so
invasive
well they repopulate quickly which
allows them to crowd out native plants
and their seeds survive their seeds can
travel vast distances by wind water air
and can even survive ingestion by most
animals and most importantly their seeds
don’t decompose in the soil for many
years I initially tried several removal
methods physically digging and pulling
chemical removal applications and
suffocation with the plastic black tarp
none of these methods proved to be truly
effective because the grass the Prairie
grab these invasive grasses are so roots
are so deep the roots are over three
feet deep and the chemicals also harm
the native plants as well so I decided
to implement interceding which is an
innovative planting technique which
mimics how seeds grow and germinate in
nature
the sheer number of seeds and these
high-density patches encourages growth
and spread all tamale throughout the
whole meadow to implement this
interesting method I needed seeds so I
went to an existing Blackland Prairie to
gather the seeds you
grabbed at the base of the plant warming
your cup and your hands into a cup and
lift up from the stem the seeds will
stay in the palm of your hand you have
to gather many different types of seeds
to maintain plant diversity such as big
bluestem little bluestem Indian grass
switchgrass and a whole host of wild
flowers now it’s time to sow the seeds
in the Blackland Prairie using the
interceding method dig a small plot put
the seeds in the spot then
stomp-stomp-stomp to break it down more
slowly you dig a small plot where you
remove the invasive grasses from a small
little patch but seeds in the spot where
you plant these high-density patches of
variety of seeds then stomp stomp stomp
this mimics how seeds germinate in
nature we applied this dance and sing
method throughout the whole prairie and
despite our off-key singing it worked
but it takes a long time
I began implementing this method of 5
years ago and I’m just now seeing the
great results from my hard efforts after
we removed the invasive grasses
replanted native grasses it was time to
reintroduce Texas and dangered animals
back into the Blackland Prairie I chose
to save that northern bobwhite quail the
northern bobwhite quail is population
has declined by 82% in the past 50 years
they can live in the Prairie because
they can nest and protect themselves
from predators in the tall prairie
grasses and they get their name from
their mating collar which resembles Bob
Bob white and believe me it’s loud you
heard this call when I was being
introduced and so I began raising quail
and yes my mom said there was a big
thank you for allowing me to do this
imagine our first conversation hey mom
what do you think of me raising over 300
quail in our living room
at least to say it didn’t go over well
at first since 2013
I’ve consulted quail experts and
wildlife biologists to learn the secrets
behind incubating raising hatching and
rearing quail and I obtained my Texas
game bird breeder license which gives me
the authority to raise over a thousand
quail in a year so I began raising quail
there’s actually a lot of science behind
incubating and raising eggs for three
weeks the eggs are kept at a constant
temperature of 99.5 degrees with a
humidity of 55% when they were born we
named a lot of them both
bobwhite that is even when they’re born
they’re very fragile bird with the high
mortality so we keep them in a small box
for two weeks after they go stronger we
move them to a brooder in our backyard
then they learn to walk grow bigger
learn to poop and chirp constantly you
would think that if you cry at some time
but nope finally they get moved to the
backyard in a flight pin where they can
learn to fly and they grow up until
they’re mature enough to be released
back into the Blackland Prairie when
they reach of age and they start laying
these clutches of eggs I gathered their
eggs I start begin incubating them
starting the process all over again now
after I are successfully raised in Rio
quail it was time to reintroduce these
quail back into the Blackland Prairie to
date there is no successful scientific
documentation of successful
reintroductions of northern bobwhite
quail back into the Blackland Prairie
working with wildlife biologists at
Louisville Lake and environmental
learning area known as Lila I have been
banding and releasing quail for three
years basically we take 30 quail 20
females 10 males and in this group
called a cubby we band them with a
single color like red green blue and
then we put them in the flight pin this
is a video of the birds in the flight
pan after we just banded them
if you look closely you might be able to
see a little red band on their feet
after they end the flight pin for a
couple days and they get acclimated to
the tall prairie grasses and everything
else we take them to a different part of
the park then release them and they’re
free
since then we have spotted some of these
quail these right here are some images
of the quail we have released back into
the Blackland Prairie as you can see
they’re potentially health there’s
appear to be healthy and potentially
breeding all on their own these quail
have been successively reintroduced back
into the Blackland Prairie from what
started as a Eagle Scout project many
years ago is blossomed to a whole
community effort with over a hundred
volunteers with 3,000 volunteer hours my
passion to save the Blackland Prairie
star blossoms into this wonderful thing
it’s become something bigger than myself
how can you help well you can remove
invasive grasses at your own house and
plant native grasses in your
neighborhood volunteer at a local nature
center like the Twelve Hills Nature
Center or connemara Conservancy and most
importantly think globally and act
locally to make an impact in our world
the average human lifespan is about 75
years which calculates out to about 2.3
billion seconds that’s a lot of seconds
somewhere along all of those seconds
each of us has the capability power
passion and responsibility to preserve
and protect our world not only for our
generation but for generations to come
how are you going to spend those seconds
you
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