Wildlife habitat & early successional / quail
Education on early successional habitat, grassland and young-forest structure, and recovering Northern Bobwhite — so landowners know which practices actually help.
For landowners · managers · agencies
Land that works harder for wildlife
Education and technology that turn into on-the-ground decisions
Land & Wildlife helps people who own and manage working lands improve habitat, reduce conflict, and manage with confidence — through research-backed education and actionable insights, not noise.
Hear what’s happening
Species presence, seasonality, and soundscape change that occasional surveys miss.
Understand the pattern
Context from weather, space, and time — so a quiet week isn’t mistaken for a habitat failure.
Decide on the ground
Insights that inform cover, burns, food plots, access, and where effort actually lands.
Current focus
Acoustics that inform management
We digitize the soundscape with autonomous recording units, AI detection, and expert review — then turn calling into property-level insights for habitat and wildlife decisions.
Built for landowners, land managers, and agencies who want more than a species list: patterns you can act on across a listening season.
Explore the acoustic program →Broader program
Also what we do
Acoustics is the current focus — not the whole story. Land & Wildlife is rooted in Extension-grade habitat education, workshops, and applied research that already moved acres on the ground.
Workshops & Speaker Series
Hands-on workshops (including Delmarva Woodland Stewards) and the monthly Land & Wildlife Speaker Series — plus dozens of one-on-one consultations.
Crop / deer damage research & education
Applied work on deer pressure in soybeans and forage systems, with outreach that has been featured on Maryland Farm & Harvest (MPT).
~18,977
Acres improved for wildlife habitat
~1,707
People influenced to improve habitat
~179,987
Acres respondents plan to manage differently
31
Monthly Land & Wildlife Speaker Series sessions
Habitat impact figures from the 2025 Extension impact survey (n=135). Planned-acres outcome from program evaluations (n=245).
- Delmarva Woodland Stewards multi-week workshops plus additional habitat workshops across the region
- 86+ one-on-one and small-group consultations on wildlife habitat improvement
- Research & education on soybean / deer damage management — practical tools for working farms
Founder
About Luke
Luke Macaulay, Ph.D. is a wildlife scientist and educator. He earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, served as Extension Specialist at UC Berkeley (2016–2020), and is Wildlife Management Specialist with University of Maryland Extension (2020–present).
After earning tenure, he went all-in on entrepreneurship with Land & Wildlife — bringing research-grade methods to landowners and agencies who need decisions, not just data.
For ~3 years he has been proving acoustic methods through a research partnership on a ~1,000-acre working farm — digitizing soundscapes and translating calling into management insight.
- Selected roles
- Past President, The Wildlife Society — Maryland–Delaware Chapter
- Trustee & Vice President, Natural Resources Extension Education Foundation (NREEF)
- FAA-licensed drone (UAS) remote pilot
Selected writing
Selected publications
A short curated list — not the full CV.
-
Recovering Northern Bobwhite Quail: A Guide to Habitat Management
-
Ownership Patterns and Landscape Diversity: Conservation Implications in Maryland
-
Estimating Deer Populations Using Camera Traps and Natural Marks
-
Mammals — The Maryland Naturalist’s Handbook (Chapter 14)
-
How States Shape Wildlife Conservation on Private Lands: A 50-State Analysis
-
The role of wildlife-associated recreation in private land use and conservation
-
Managing Deer Damage in Crops
Fuller list available via Luke’s University of Maryland academic directory.
Get in touch
Contact
Questions about Land & Wildlife, workshops, or whether acoustic monitoring is a fit for your property.
luke@landwildlife.com