Sharing success of the Endangered Species Act -
The grasslands of Arizona and northern Mexico once supported healthy populations of masked bobwhite quail. The introduction of cattle grazing to the region, however, pushed the quail from its native habitat and toward extinction. As a result, the species was considered extinct in the U.S. by 1950. Fortunately, in 1964, the last remaining population of masked bobwhite quail was found in Sonora, Mexico, prompting the U.S. government to list it as an endangered species.

In 1985, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took a major step toward restoring the quail habitat by purchasing the grasslands of Arizona's Buenos Aires Ranch, which became what is now the 116,585-acre Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. As a result of these efforts there are now as many as 500 masked bobwhite quail in the wilds of Arizona where less than a century ago...there were none.