When hunting buddies Jim Willis and John Webb purchased the 225-acre ranch in 2000, the overgrazed property had become "a wildlife desert," as Willis phrased it. The pasture couldn't support anything but cattle.

So, they replaced the so-called improved grasses commonly planted in the area with native varieties, such as little bluestem and switchgrass, to restore habitat for bobwhite quail and other birds. Scores of them now nest in the grasses while the ranch's cattle graze nearby.

What is happening here is a vision that many see as the coastal prairie's salvation. Biologists blame the loss of habitat, primarily from development and modern farming practices, for a 75 percent drop in Texas' quail population in the past 30 years.

The quail's decline matters because the popular game bird is an "indicator species," meaning their numbers reflect the viability of an ecosystem for other grassland birds. Already, without any attempt to restock, the WW Ranch has a healthy population of one quail per acre, Willis said.

With his ranch as a model, Willis has asked those around him to restore their land with the hope of creating more than seven miles of contiguous, wide-open habitat that connects to the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge.

Now, 28 landowners are on board, their properties ranging from 42 acres to nearly 8,000 acres. The state Parks and Wildlife Department and the conservation group Audubon Texas are helping with the project, providing financial incentives and technical assistance to participants.

Recent studies have shown that large, working cattle ranches may be the best hope for preserving habitat for many native species at a time of increasing fragmentation. Once the land is subdivided, it becomes harder for the native species to live there.

State officials hope the effort to restore quail habitat on the coastal prairie will work elsewhere in the state. A similar project is under way to link 30,000 acres to support grassland birds in Navarro County near Dallas.

"Habitat is the key," said Kyle Brazil, a Texas Audubon biologist who has worked closely with Willis on the restoration project. "Where land is managed well for quail, it's managed well for all grassland birds."

Quail pushed out

Bobwhite quail once flourished throughout the Southeast. But the bird has disappeared over the past three decades with the absence of periodic wildfires and the introduction of pine plantations, coastal Bermuda pastures for cattle, and 20-acre "ranchettes" for urban refugees and weekend cowboys.

Quail need the type of grasses and plants that provide nesting places and woody cover from predators, wind and heat. It takes at least 3,500 contiguous acres of habitat to maintain a viable population, according to state biologists.

In the process of subdividing and selling some of the best areas for quail, Texans are losing their heritage - at least that's the view of Willis, a retired rice industry executive who has hunted the bird since childhood.

"If you care about the game," he said, "then you become close to it."

Willis bought the ranch, about 60 miles west of Houston, with Webb because "it has all the ingredients for the largest density of quail in the state."

To restore habitat, Willis and Webb removed the cattle from the property to allow the non-native grass to grow. Then they conducted a prescribed burn and applied herbicide. A second prescribed burn removed the dead grass.

In early winter, they planted native grasses and waited. It took more than a year for some grasses to emerge.

After establishing the grasses, Willis and Webb reintroduced cattle to the ranch. The small herd helps to keep the grasses from becoming too dense or high, and their hooves replant seeds.

Willis and Webb also planted 3,000 sand plum trees for woody cover and added forbs, which produce seeds and attract insects, the primary food source for hens and young chicks. They also enlarged a small, shallow pond to 5 acres.

Wildlife returns

As a result, quail and 30 other species of grassland birds returned to the property, as well as deer, ducks and migratory songbirds, said Robert Perez, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist and quail expert.

Willis soon realized that he needed the help of his neighbors to improve the quail population. He knocked on doors for two years before another landowner agreed to transform the property, and the idea of a wildlife corridor to the prairie chicken refuge began to take shape.

"Jim can talk to property owners easier than I can," said Terry Rossignol, superintendent of the 10,000-acre national refuge in Colorado County, between Columbus and Sealy. "It would take us 20 years to get through the front gate."

Several ranchers fret about the cost of taking cattle off the land, even temporarily, and about the prescribed burns, said Willis, who met with some of them seven or eight times before they agreed to be part of the corridor project.

Willis touts the possible economic benefits: The project cost about $100 per acre at his ranch, with maintenance estimated at $5 per acre. With native grasses, he doesn't need to purchase fertilizer or hay or worry about water or soil erosion. The land acts as a sponge when it rains and replenishes aquifers.

And income from cattle grazing and hunting leases can offset the costs, he tells them.

"You never fully restore everything," Willis said. "But what takes longer usually lasts longer."