Wildlife Management Plan
Knox County

The Rolling Plains of north-central and western Texas is a transitional landscape of mesquite-grassland, eroded redbed canyons, and brushy draws, positioned between the High Plains caprock to the west and the Cross Timbers to the east. This is classic quail country: mixed-grass prairie interspersed with shin oak mottes, lotebush thickets, and sand plum patches that provide the ground-level structure bobwhite and scaled quail need for nesting, brood-rearing, and escape cover. The region receives 20 to 30 inches of rainfall annually, enough to support productive rangeland but not enough to forgive overgrazing.

Brush management on the Rolling Plains is a balancing act between reducing mesquite canopy cover to restore grass production and retaining enough woody structure to provide wildlife cover. The standard approach combines aerial herbicide application on dense mesquite flats with mechanical treatment of regrowth, followed by prescribed fire to maintain the treated areas. Strip-pattern treatment, alternating cleared and untreated bands, creates the habitat mosaic that bobwhite quail populations require: open grassland for foraging and nesting within short flight distance of woody escape cover. Prickly pear management is increasingly important as cactus density has increased under decades of overgrazing and fire suppression. Half-cutting or targeted herbicide application reduces prickly pear while maintaining some plants for the moisture and fruit they provide to wildlife during drought.

Northern bobwhite quail is the primary management target on Rolling Plains ranches, and the region supports some of the most productive wild quail populations remaining in the United States. Scaled quail occupy the drier, more open western portions. Texas horned lizard is a species of high conservation concern that has declined across much of its range due to red imported fire ant invasion and loss of harvester ant prey. Lesser prairie chicken occurs in the sandy, shinnery oak rangelands of the western Rolling Plains. Raptor diversity is high, with golden eagle, ferruginous hawk, and Mississippi kite all nesting in the region.