Staff Spotlight Series: Habitat for the Hatch

From Texas to Florida and up into the northern reaches of Kentucky, private and public land projects under the umbrella of the NWTF's Habitat for the Hatch Initiative are up and running for the initiative's first full year, creating the nesting and brood-rearing habitat essential to hatching more poults and recruiting them into adulthood. This work is driven by the NWTF's volunteers, staff and partners. For this NWTF spotlight, we are featuring two of the initiative's key biologists, Ricky Lackey and Kacie Bauman and their passion for working for the NWTF's mission.  

Ricky Lackey 

Lackey has been with the NWTF as a biologist for the last 13 years and currently delivers the NWTF mission in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. And while he has served the NWTF and its members for over a decade, his love for the outdoors and natural resources conservation has been deeply rooted since an early age. 

"My enjoyment of the outdoors at a young age definitely turned into a genuine interest and curiosity for nature," he said. "It certainly influenced my career path and direction in life."  

Lackey earned his B.S. in environmental biology at Thomas University and was employed as a field technician researching and monitoring bobwhite quail before joining the NWTF. 

"Certainly, my career has revolved around upland game birds," he said. "Besides my education and experience in wildlife biology and game birds, I am a certified prescribed burn manager in Florida and Georgia. Prescribed fire is critical to managing habitats and wildlife in the Southeast, so I try and do my part in that regard." 

While Lackey was raised in the outdoor traditions, hunting and fishing with family often, he didn't go turkey hunting until he was in college, an experience that would increase his interest and passion for America's greatest game bird. 

"Although I was in the woods at an early age, my dad did not turkey hunt, so I did not get into turkey hunting until college," he said. "I had a couple of friends that were nice enough to take me out and show me the ropes. I killed my first wild turkey in the spring of 2006 in Georgia.  

“Caring about the resource you are working for makes most days at work easier. When you care about what you're doing and making an impact in ways that are lasting for generations, it just means a lot."  

Lackey is engaged in all aspects of the NWTF in the states he represents, from state policy actions, wild turkey research support, implementing habitat practices that benefit the wild turkey's annual cycle needs and contributing to hunting heritage efforts. He is also fired up about the NWTF's Habitat for the Hatch Initiative and some of the upcoming work under the initiative's umbrella.  

"Habitat for the Hatch has energized our membership and our partners in the Southeast," he said. "Knowing that habitat is one of the limiting factors in wild turkey reproduction and success, this initiative is laser-focused on delivering high-quality, strategic nesting and brood-rearing habitat on a large scale. Additionally, one of the main objectives of Habitat for the Hatch is habitat-focused research. Specifically, how do wild turkey populations respond, over time, to habitat manipulation and restoration? This is just one of many questions we don't fully understand in the wild turkey world, and the NWTF, through Habitat for the Hatch, is currently bringing together researchers and agencies to answer some of these questions."  

Kacie Bauman 

Kacie Bauman has served the NWTF for over eight years, starting her career with the organization as a project manager in Mississippi and now serving as the district biologist for Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. 

Bauman grew up in southeast Missouri on a small cattle farm where the outdoors played a formative part of her life. 

"I remember every year during deer rifle season, the entire family would gather on the farm, and we would hunt during the day and have bonfires and hayrides at night," she said. "I would always be riding four-wheelers around the farm, playing in the creeks, morel mushroom hunting or tending to the various animals we had growing up." 

Bauman attended Maryville University in Saint Louis, Missouri, for her undergrad in biomedical sciences and pre-med. Ultimately, after deciding the medical field was not for her, Bauman decided to pursue a graduate degree in an area that connected her passion for the outdoors with a career in wildlife resource conservation. 

Bauman later attended Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, where she focused on the efficacy of feral swine removal techniques for her master's degree.  

"I rediscovered my passion for the outdoors and spent almost every day for two years in the field tracking, observing, detailing and trapping feral hogs on Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in Puxico, Missouri," Bauman said. "I enjoyed even the worst days, the bitter cold days, the blazing hot days and being able to experience the outdoors in such a unique place. I met a lot of great agency folks, private landowners and people just out there experiencing the refuge in all its glory. I went on to graduate and defend my thesis, and I am grateful that I get to work in a career I love and enjoy." 

As an NWTF district biologist, Bauman is engaged in all aspects of the NWTF mission in the states that she represents, including state policy actions, wild turkey research support, implementing habitat practices that benefit the wild turkey's annual cycle needs and contributing to hunting heritage efforts. 

Bauman has seen NWTF volunteers in her state rally around the Habitat for the Hatch Initiative and is excited about what the initiative accomplishes in her region. 

"Habitat for the Hatch has our state boards and agency partners thinking of projects that will bring the most benefit to nesting and brooding habitat on a landscape scale," she said. "Many Super Fund projects and stewardship work is focused on creating the much-needed habitat, and our volunteers are excited to see the projects come to life to bolster wild turkey populations." 

All the NWTF state chapters that Bauman serves have donated $10,000 toward the research component associated with Habitat for the Hatch and plan to continue doing so. 

"Working for Habitat for the Hatch and the NWTF's overall mission allows me to help conserve something I love," she said. 

Learn more about Habitat for the Hatch.