THOMASVILLE — Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy, along with project partner the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis (CEFA) at Florida State University, recently completed the second of two regional economic impact analyses of wild quail hunting in Southwest Georgia.

The most recent study evaluated the economic impact of hunting properties in the Greater Albany Region and concluded in December 2014. The first study, which wrapped up in late 2013, focused on hunting properties in the Red Hills Region, including Thomas, Grady, and Brooks counties.

Tall Timbers and CEFA found that the total annual economic impact of Albany Region hunting properties was nearly $125 million — money that flows throughout local communities in Baker, Calhoun, Dougherty, Lee and Worth counties, among others.

The tremendous impact is the result of a wide range of operating, capital improvement and discretionary spending, as well as local charitable giving.

Nearly 900 jobs are directly or indirectly related to Albany Region wild quail hunting properties. The jobs generated more than $38 million in employment income and provide wages well above the average throughout the area.

Combined with the results from Tall Timbers’ 2013 Red Hills study, the total economic impact of quail hunting to local and regional economies is $272 million. Quail hunting generates nearly 2,300 direct and indirect jobs and produces $89 million in labor income, as well as annual wages higher than the average in Southwest Georgia and North Florida.

The quail hunting lands of the Greater Albany Region and the Red Hills Region are a model of sustainability, providing great examples of how economic growth and good jobs are possible while also protecting drinking water quality, recharging drinking water supplies, and providing habitat for dozens of imperiled species.

The publications can be accessed electronically at http://talltimbers.org/.

The mission of Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy is to foster exemplary land stewardship through research, conservation and education. Tall Timbers’ primary research focus is the ecology and management of fire-dependent ecosystems and wildlife, including bobwhite quail, in the Southeastern Coastal Plain. Tall Timbers conservation efforts are dedicated to helping protect the distinctive, rural landscape of South Georgia and North Florida and its traditional land uses.

For more information, contact Neil Fleckenstein at 850-893-4153, ext. 335 or neil@ttrs.org.