Hunters will continue enjoying public access to more than 80,000 acres of privately owned timberland known as Honobia Creek Wildlife Management Area thanks to a recent agreement between the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the three timber companies that own the land.

At its June meeting, the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission renewed it's agreements with Hancock Forest Management, Rayonier Forest Resources and Molpus Timberlands Management to secure the collective 80,316 acres in Pushmataha and LeFlore counties for the next three years. The agreements follow last month's renewal of a contract with Weyerhaeuser Company to maintain public hunting and fishing access to more than 200,000 acres on the Three Rivers WMA in southeast Oklahoma.

The Honobia Creek and Three Rivers WMAs are a result of cooperative agreements between the Wildlife Department and four of the largest timber companies in Oklahoma, and the areas have proven popular among sportsmen.

"Hunters and anglers from 53 of the 77 counties in Oklahoma use either the Three Rivers or Honobia Creek Wildlife Management Area," said Alan Peoples, chief of wildlife for the Wildlife Department.

According to Peoples, the new agreements will maintain Honobia Creek WMA as one contiguous acreage rather than breaking it into smaller tracts. Additionally, the agreement will continue providing access to 21 miles of hunting and fishing opportunity on the Little River and will maintain 16 miles of shared boundary between Honobia Creek WMA and Three Rivers WMA.

Located north of Hwy 3/7 and east of Hwy 271, Honobia Creek WMA is a mixture of pine and hardwood forests interspersed with rivers and streams, serving as ideal habitat for a range of wildlife. A $40 land access permit is required of all residents who hunt or fish on Honobia Creek or Three Rivers WMAs. Nonresidents are required to purchase an $85 annual permit. Oklahoma residents who are under 18 years of age on the first day of the current calendar year or 64 years of age or older are exempt from permit requirements. More information about Honobia Creek and Three Rivers WMAs is available online at wildlifedepartment.com.

In other business, the Commission approved the Wildlife Department's fiscal year 2012 annual budget. The approved budget falls about $5 million below the FY2011 budget due to a decrease in capital expenditures. Significant additions to the budget include $1 million for fish hatchery renovations and $800,000 for repairs to the dam at American Horse Lake. The budget also includes approximately $1 million for quail research, specifically two important research initiatives intended to halt the long-term downward trends in quail populations across the state and the bird's native range.

Oklahoma has long been known as home to some of the best quail habitat and quail hunting in the nation. But since the species is currently in a state of unexplained gradual decline, the research initiatives will seek to study all angles of quail mortality and develop management strategies that help halt decline.

As part of the effort, the Department will work with Oklahoma State University to initiate its own research program and intensive quail management efforts on two northwest Oklahoma WMAs. Areas of focus will include weather studies, implications of cattle grazing and prescribed fire, requirements for optimum reproductive success and rates and causes of quail mortality.

"We're moving forward," Peoples said. "We continue to refine our research principles and concepts with Oklahoma State University, and I think we're getting real close to what we foresee as long-term quail research needs."

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) will be working with the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch as well as Texas A&M and Texas Tech universities on a project called Operation Idiopathic Decline. The role of ODWC biologists will include trapping quail and sending them to Texas Tech, where extensive research will commence in the areas of disease, parasitism, herbicides, insecticides and other issues.

"The August, September, October timeframe is where we're focusing because that seems to be the window of disappearance - the Bermuda triangle, if you will," Peoples said.

Peoples said the Department will send four employees to Texas in July for training in the collection of quail data samples for research purposes.

The Commission learned of the research initiatives at its March meeting, and since then the Department has started preparing for the projects.

The Commission also voted for a modification to the Wildlife Department retirement plan that changes the investment return assumption from 7.5 percent to 7 percent, and it elected new officers to serve the Commission.

Serving as the new chairman will be District 3 Commissioner Mike Bloodworth; serving as vice-chairman will be District 1 Commissioner M. David Riggs; and serving as secretary will be District 6 Commissioner John Zelbst.

The Wildlife Conservation Commission is the eight-member governing board of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The Wildlife Commission establishes state hunting and fishing regulations, sets policy for the Wildlife Department and indirectly oversees all state fish and wildlife conservation activities. Commission members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.

The next scheduled Commission meeting is set for 9 a.m., July 5, at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation headquarters (auditorium), located at the southwest corner of 18th and North Lincoln, Oklahoma City.