Brush Piles Can Provide Escape Cover For Wildlife

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Adequate resting and escape coveris critical to ground-nesting birds,

rabbits, and other small game.Although living brush is preferable inmost cases, you can build brush pilesto supply immediate shelter wherenatural cover is limited.

Artificial brush piles conceal andprotect wildlife from predators andthe weather. They also establish amedium for seed germination andplant growth. Construction of brushpiles has most often beenrecommended for management of thebobwhite quail and cottontail rabbit.Brush piles constructed for gameanimals also will be used by manynongame species.

Cover provided by the brush pilemust be dense enough to protectwildlife and yet allow animals to easilyrun inside.

Suitable locations for brush pilesinclude open fields and range land,fence corners, field edges, gullies,between a stream and a marsh,woodland borders, near woodlandsbeing cleared or thinned, and othersites adjoining feeding and nestingcover.

Brush piles help to prevent erosionand provide wildlife cover when placedalong the head of a gully, but neverplace them in the middle of an erodingwash. They may also be appropriatenear impoundments, stock ponds,potholes, and other watering places inopen terrain.

If you install them adjacent to foodplots, they will make the plots moreattractive and available to both gameand nongame species. Place them ateach end of an elongated food plot orwhere the surrounding area is lacking

in natural cover. The optimum distancebetween brush piles is from 200 ft. to300 ft., but will vary according to sitecharacteristic and target species.

You can build brush piles frommaterials available in the vicinity of asite. Oak, locust, and other rot-resistant trees make durable bases.Other suitable materials include largestumps, cull logs, old fence posts,large stones, metal grills supportedby cinder blocks, and tractor tires.You may use small trees and limbs ofalmost any species as filler material.

Put the largest material on thebottom and ad layers at right anglesto one another. Then add small trees,limbs, and branches as filler over thebase so that the center is very dense,but the edges are loose. This willshelter the wildlife and still allow themto easily come and go. When usingwoody material, the base shouldconsist of sturdy trunks or limbs atleast 6 in. in diameter.

A brush pile for quail should be 6 ft.to 7 ft. tall and 24 ft. to 36 ft. indiameter. For rabbits, the brush pileshould be 4 ft. to 7 ft. tall and 10 ft. to20 ft. wide.

In areas cleared of natural wildlifecover, it is best to build at least threeor four brush piles per acre. To helpconceal wildlife traveling alongwoodland borders, place a brush pileevery 200 to 300 feet.

You may want to keep brush pilesaway from your house and buildings asthey will attract woodchucks, skunks,and snakes – all of which may becomehousehold pests. Brush piles may alsoconceal predators. Keep them awayfrom bird feeders located on or nearthe ground.

Page 1 A Plant's Home© WindStar Wildlife Institute

Brush Piles CanProvide Escape

Cover For Wildlife

WindStar Wildlife Institute is anational, non-profit, conservation

organization whose mission is to helpindividuals and families establish orimprove the wildlife habitat on their

properties.

For more information or for the nameof a Master Wildlife Habitat

Naturalist in your area,please contact:

WindStar Wildlife Institute

E-mail: wildlife@windstar.org

http://www.windstar.org

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