Deforestation In Turkey

[Mellissa Sprock]

BOGORIndonesia (16 March, 2012)_For US$3,000, sport hunters can spend four days hunting the Ocellated Turkey in multiple-use community forest concessions of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. This price tag, set by a conservation and development project, is helping save the species from being hunted to death.

One of just two living turkey species in the world, the Ocellated Turkey is found only on the Yucatan Peninsula, home to the largest continuous tracts of tropical rainforest in Central America. While the turkey is endemic to this region, subsistence hunting by local communities has severely depleted turkey populations where they are not protected.

The founders of Proyecto Pavo saw the potential to diversify forest income and simultaneously conserve turkey populations by developing a programme of community-operated, selective harvests of the Ocellated Turkey with sport hunter clients.

The project employs locals to maintain campsites and trails, conduct surveys of turkey populations, operate the hunts and guide clients out into the forest. This provides local employment alternatives to subsistence hunting, cultivates local skills in financial management and logistics, increases the response readiness of community concession management authorities to forest fire through trail maintenance, and discourages illegal harvesting through project staff simply being present in remote areas.

The 1982 Constitution recognizes the right of all Turkish citizens to a healthy environment, as well as the duty of the State and of citizens to upgrade the environment, protect environmental health and prevent pollution. Turkey is a party to all key international environmental conventions which provide appropriate policy frameworks and promote cooperation and coherent action at global, regional and national levels to address environmental problems.

Turkey has been experiencing environmental pressures due to population growth, industrialisation and rapid urbanisation. These pressures translate into a range of environmental challenges such as climate change, desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, nature degradation and marine pollution. To address these challenges, Turkey has adopted new legislation and institutional practices as part of an effort to comply with the EU environmental acquis.

Enforcement of environmental law began in the early 1980s, since which time there has been increasing regulation in the environmental sphere. This has led to improvements in a number of environmental indicators. Some of these improvements are described below:

SOER 2015 country briefings provide an overview of state of the environment across 39 European countries. They are part of the EEA's report SOER 2015, addressing the state of, trends in and prospects for the environment in Europe. The EEA's task is to provide timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information on Europe's environment.

The Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area is located in Dawson County. This 25,500-acre property offers hunting for deer, bear, turkey, small game, dove, and waterfowl. There are five sections (tracts) of the WMA, including Wildcat Creek, Goethe, Burnt Mountain, Amicalola, and City of Atlanta. The DNR Wildlife Resources Division owns 15,000 acres of the forest, with the City of Atlanta owning the lower 10,000 acres.

Access includes several miles of improved road, marked improved trails, unnamed backcountry trails and old single-track roadbeds available for public use. The forest also offers hunting, fishing and trail access opportunities for handicap users of the property year-round.

All trails are closed during firearms deer hunt except for use by hunters. During archery deer season and turkey firearms seasons trails are closed before 10:00. Trail permits are required for horse and bicycle use. Trail permits are required on City of Atlanta tract. Permits must be completed in person to be valid.

Not much more than a half century ago, Missouri's wild turkey population was in danger of disappearing from the landscape. By the early 1950s, it was estimated that fewer than 2,500 turkeys were left in only 14 Missouri counties. Their restoration is one of the state's great conservation success stories.

Missouri is home to the eastern subspecies of wild turkey, one of five subspecies native to North America. Once abundant, turkey numbers declined rapidly during the early 1900s, as they did in much of the eastern United States. Unregulated harvest and habitat destruction caused by extensive deforestation, uncontrolled burning and free-range grazing resulted in the population's near demise in Missouri.

In the early 1950s, intensive habitat management on several Ozark refuges and modification of the cannon net set the stage for a historic wildlife restoration effort. The cannon net allowed biologists to capture flocks of wild turkeys in areas where they were abundant and relocate them to other parts of the state that had adequate habitat.

Initiated in the mid-1950s, Missouri's turkey restoration efforts would span more than two decades and involve the relocation of more than 2,600 turkeys to 213 sites in 91 counties. In less than half a century, Missouri's turkey population went from the brink of extirpation, or localized extinction, to an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 birds, among the largest populations in the nation.

Many private landowners in Missouri are interested in creating and maintaining habitat for wild turkeys. This guide provides recommendations for doing just that. Before learning about specific habitat management practices, it is important to build basic knowledge about turkey biology, population dynamics and habitat needs. This broader information will help landowners and managers better understand the value of implementing specific habitat management practices.

Turkeys, the largest game bird in North America, are gallinaceous birds, a group that includes pheasants, quail and grouse. These birds have short beaks and wings, feed and nest on the ground and have young that leave the nest shortly after hatching. Adult males, commonly called gobblers, average 17 to 21 pounds (Figure 1). Female turkeys, or hens, average 8 to 11 pounds (Figure 2). A juvenile male is called a jake; a female is a jenny.

Several physical characteristics help identify male and female turkeys. In addition to being larger than hens, gobblers have a colorful, unfeathered head and neck that are red, white and blue. Males are also darker overall with black-tipped breast feathers and a feather-like appendage, called a beard, protruding from their neck above the breast (Figure 3). Unlike feathers, turkey beards are not molted. They grow throughout a bird's life, although friction from the ground and accumulated snow and ice in winter reduce their length. About 5 percent of hens have beards, but theirs are typically shorter and thinner than those of males. Male turkeys also have a spur on the lower part of each leg, which is much longer than the tiny button-spur that hens have. Hens are also much smaller and more drab-colored than males, with buff-tipped breast feathers. Their heads are predominantly blue with a feather tract that extends up the back of the neck.

Several characteristics help determine a turkey's age. Adult turkeys have symmetrical tail fans, whereas the middle four to six feathers of a juvenile's tail fan are longer than the outside feathers. In adult turkeys, the white barring of the ninth and 10th primary wing feathers extends to the tips (Figure 4a). In juvenile turkeys, the feather tips are more pointed, and the white barring does not extend to the tip of the 10th, and sometimes ninth, primary wing feather (Figure 4b). Beard and spur length also help differentiate adult and juvenile males. Most adult males have beards longer than 6 inches (most are at least 8 inches). During the first spring of a male turkey's life, its beard is typically only 3 to 4 inches long. Though spurs grow continuously like beards, they do not wear down easily. The spurs of juvenile males average about a 1/4 inch long during their first spring. The spurs of adult male turkeys are typically at least 7/8 of an inch long.

Turkeys spend winter in large flocks to help them find food and avoid predators. As March arrives, these large flocks begin to break up. Gobblers, which have spent the winter together, begin to join flocks of hens. As daylight hours increase gobblers' testosterone levels, their behavior begins to change, intensifying as the breeding season draws nearer.

The first noticeable change in behavior prior to the breeding season is when male turkeys begin to gobble before leaving their tree roosts at daylight. They spend brief periods strutting for hens with their tail fans raised and spread, body feathers erect, and wings dragging along the ground. Male turkeys fight to determine social status and establish dominance. Dominant gobblers will begin to assert their presence to hens even before the winter flocks break up. As winter flocks disband, turkeys often travel 1 to 3 miles to their spring range; juveniles often travel farther. After this dispersal, dominant gobblers will often associate with a harem of hens, whereas younger subordinate males often remain together. As hens become physiologically ready to breed, they signal their receptivity to males. Although turkeys become sexually mature at about 1 year of age, and some jakes do breed, older males breed most of the hens.

A turkey's nest consists of a simple, shallow depression on the ground in dense cover (Figure 5). In Missouri, egg-laying typically begins in early April, and hens usually lay about one egg per day. During this period, hens spend little time at the nest, covering it with leaves when departing. After they lay a typical clutch of 10 to 12 eggs, hens will spend about 22 to 23 hours a day on the nest, incubating, leaving only to eat, drink and defecate. Although hens do not cover the nest during these breaks, the light-colored speckled eggs blend in well with the surrounding leaf litter. Despite the camouflaged eggs and dense cover of nest sites, most nests are lost to predators each year. About 50 percent of adult hens will attempt a second nest if their first attempt is not successful. Juvenile hens are much less likely to renest should their first nest fail.

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