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Managing WoodlandsFor Wildlife

Today, many nature-lovinghome-owners are trying to

protect and enjoy some of ourrapidly-vanishing wildlife habitatby buying properties whichinclude woodlots. Some mayeven purchase larger tracts ofland with more extensiveforested areas.

Very often, and with the bestof intentions, these landownersdeclare that they are going toleave the woods untouched, “forthe sake of wildlife."

Although their intentions aregood, they don’t necessarilyrepresent the best approachfor maximizing plant, animal,and bird diversity on a piece ofwoodland property.

This is one of those instanceswhere the “good news" and the“bad news" are the same: onesize doesn’t fit all. Eachproperty will have different “sitefactors," including variations insoil, moisture, sunlight, existingvegetation, and local wildlife.That makes it impossible torecommend the same practicesfor every property.

In addition, differentapproaches are needed to

Just as you wouldmake a plan for the

rest of your landscape,you should also studyyour wooded areas in

terms of whatmanagement

techniques you can

use to reach yourwildlife goals.

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attract specific species to agiven area. On the plus side,however, this means that youhave the opportunity to thinkcarefully about what youultimately hope to accomplish,and then formulate a specificplan to be implemented instages, as time and moneyallow.

You should study yourproperty as it relates to theLaw of Minimums, whichdeclares that, when a factorapproaches its minimum, itsrelative effect becomesincreasingly great.

In other words, whatever youare most lacking may have thegreatest impact, and you cantake steps to enhance thatmissing element.

All species of wildlife requirefood, water, cover and space.With thoughtful management,you can ensure that yourwoodland provides the maximumof each.

Plants should supply a varietyof food types, ripening atdifferent times. Blackberry andcherry are favored by 56species of birds and animals,and are available during thesummer and fall. Oak is adelicacy for 43 species, and canprovide nourishment in thespring and winter.

Rotting logs attract insects,an important food source formany species, and rock piles arehavens for the reptiles andamphibians that feedcarnivorous birds and mammals.

A water source doesn’t haveto be a large pond or a flowingstream. Perhaps on your

property you have spring seepswhich will run quietly all winter,or vernal pools which supplycritical habitat before drying upin the summer. Whatever yourwater resources, they should bevalued and carefully protectedfor wildlife.

Cover can be anything from abrush pile to a stone wall, a holein a tree to a rotting log. Alltypes of vegetation, fromherbaceous openings to shrubsand mature trees, can be usedfor nesting and escape cover,depending on the species ofwildlife.

Don’t overlook theimportance of evergreens,which provide criticalprotection in the winter, aswell as food when supplies arescarce.

Tree cavities can exist in bothliving and dead trunks, andideally there will be a variety ofsizes, at different heights,throughout the woods.

We can’t always control theamount of space that we canprovide, but many species don’trequire a lot of acreage. Forthose that do, perhaps you canget neighbors with adjoiningproperties to work with you tocreate a larger habitat. Thismay be particularly valuable for

those species which requiremixed vegetation.

Wild turkeys, for instance, lookfor grasses and insects in openclearings in the spring andsummer, and nuts and berries inmature forests in the fall andwinter.

The first thing to consider isthe overall health of yourforest, regardless of its size.Many of us, in response to thedismaying loss of woodlandsdue to industrial anddevelopment pressures, havecome to think of every tree assacred.

We look at the cutting of asingle trunk as an act akin tomurder, and take the unbendingviewpoint that “more is better."In some cases, we might literallybe loving our trees to death.

“Save the old growth forests"has become a rallying cry, and insome parts of the country itmay be valid.

Certain parts of our nationcontain ancient stands oftrees which should be reveredand protected from those whowould harvest them strictlyfor financial gain. Sadly, formost of us, the trees on ourown properties don’t fall intothat category.

Conservation can be defined as the wise use of ournatural environment: it is, in the final analysis, the

highest form of national thrift –the prevention of waste and despoilment while

preserving, improving, and renewing the quality and

usefulness of all our resources.– President John F. Kennedy

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On the east coast, forinstance, there was almost noforest left by the late 1850’s,after the combined forces offarming, and the ability ofsteam engines to move timberfor financial gain, cleared theland of trees. Thus, our matureeastern forests today are notoriginal, and, more importantly,they are all about the sameage.

While some species of wildlifedo need mature forests toprovide habitat, many othersrequire younger, secondarygrowth forests, or low-growingopen spaces, and these are inshort supply.

To understand the crisis, it isnecessary to think about theworkings of forest ecology. Youmight be familiar with the term“forest succession." This simplydescribes the normal processwhereby nature, when notinterfered with by humans ornatural disasters, follows aconstant and distinct patternof regeneration.

Starting with cleared land,the first plants to appear aregrasses and herbaceousperennials. These are followed by

shrubs and brambles, which arein turn overshadowed by shade-intolerant tree species.

These would include pines,cherry, birch, and yellow poplar,trees which you generally findgrowing in open areas or alongthe edges of establishedwoodlands, where they can grabenough sunlight to survive.

The final stage sees thedominance of hardwoods,including oaks, sugar maples,and beeches. The entire processtakes about a century whennature is left to mature on itsown.

In addition to the loss ofplant diversity, the problemwith having the majority of ourforests reach maturity at thesame time is that we no longerhave the other stages – theprairies, shrubby areas, andshade-intolerant trees –available for those wildlifespecies which require them forsurvival.

The answer isn’t to cut downall of our mature trees andstart over, but rather tobecome aware of the problemand take reasonable measures

to provide habitat for a greatervariety of plants and animals.

To rearrange a commonsaying, too often we fail to seethe trees for the forest. Take awalk on your own property andstudy specifics, rather thanjust looking at the overall“woods."

Take along a notebook andsome plant identification guidesif you are not yet familiar withwhat grows there.

Is there a predominance ofjust one or two species oftrees. Do the trees have spaceto grow, with full crowns ofleaves in the top canopy of thewoods, or are the trunks tooclose together and the leafcrowns crowded andsuppressed. Are therehardwood seedlings growingwith enough light to nurturethem.

Oak seedlings, for example, willonly grow in sunlight, so a solidcanopy of shade means thatthere will be no younger oakscoming along to replace theolder ones which die in thefuture.

If you notice a lot of stumps,or double trunks (resulting fromcutting and resprouting), youcan assume that your woodswere logged in the past.

What about the “understory"plants, those perennials andshrubs which should exist atdifferent heights underneaththe taller trees. Are there any.What types are thriving, and isthere a variety of species.

Often today the understoryvanishes, due to lack of

OVERSTORY

UNDERSTORY

HERBACEOUS LEVEL

Forest Stratification

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sunlight or deer browsing, orbecomes a “monoculture,"consisting of only one species.Spicebush is a nice shrub, forinstance, and provides goodcrops of berries, but on its owncertainly can’t sustain thevariety of wildlife that you’d liketo encourage.

This is the time when youhave to start to make somedifficult decisions. You maylove each and every individualtree, but would careful andthoughtful thinning of thewoods be better for the healthof the whole ecosystem.

Would removing some trunksopen up the canopy and let inmore light, thus encouragingseedlings to grow, and lettingmore diverse understory plantsdevelop.

Would the cutting back of ashrub species that has crowdedout most other kinds of plantsallow for more variety of wildlifefood and nesting options.

If your woodland is largeenough (generally at least 10acres), it might be financiallyrewarding for you to have acommercial logger do the

thinning, paying you for thewood that he removes.

In that case, it is highlyrecommended that you hire aconsultant forester who willcome in and mark theappropriate trees to beharvested, working towardsyour goal of improving woodlanddiversity and wildlife habitat.

Unlike some commercialenterprises, your forester won’tbe targeting just the largest,most valuable trees. He or shewill put the job proposal out forbids, and will do the negotiatingand follow-through with thelogger, making sure that theremaining forest is left asundamaged as possible.

If you are planning extensiveimprovements to yourproperty, selling some of thelumber which is overcrowdedmight be a way to finance yourother plans, while improvinghabitat at the same time.

How do you decide whatchanges, if any, to make in yourwoodland. Your first step, afterstudying your property, shouldbe to think about what wildlifeyou want to encourage. Even ifyou are mainly interested in onespecialty, such as birds, thereare still choices to be made.

Some species need large,unfragmented tracts of woods.While most of us can’t providethe 100 or 1000 acres offorest needed by these speciesfor survival, we mightsuccessfully attract “interiordwellers." Those birds needmature forests with highcanopies and as little “edge"(that area where woodlandmeets field) as possible.

Other species are “edgedwellers," thriving in the shelterof shrubs and small trees on thefringe of the woods, and makinguse of nearby grasses to findinsects and seeds.

Another group of birds,notably game birds like woodcockand grouse, depends on openareas bordered by fairly dense,low, shrubby vegetation in whichthey can hide from predators.

The same diversity in habitatrequirements applies to othertypes of wildlife, so establishingpriorities may be necessary.

If you have some open areas,you might let a portion grow upnaturally, allowing the grassesto get tall enough to providegood habitat.

If this area comes abruptlyup to the woods, considereither cutting down some ofthe trees along the outer edgeof the woodland and lettingnature replace them withshrubs and seedlings; or speedup the succession process byplanting them yourself alongthe edge of the forested area.

Having a “soft" layered edge,with a gradual blending ofgrasses into shrubs and theninto trees, is nature’s way ofgrowing, and usually will attractthe greatest diversity of plantsand wildlife.

If you are still hesitant tomake changes in your forest,remember that humans reallydon’t manage wildlife, theymanage habitat.

Species will come – or stayand reproduce – in response toappropriate food, water, cover,

The health of ourforests and the ability

of future generations to

enjoy the full array offorest wildlife depend ona balanced approach to

forest management andforest wildlifeconservation.– Ruffed Grouse Society

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This article was written byMaryland Master Wildlife

Habitat Naturalist CathyGilleland.

For more information or forthe name of a Master Wildlife

Habitat Naturalist in your area,please contact:

WindStar Wildlife Institute

E-mail: wildlife@windstar.org

http://www.windstar.org

WindStar Wildlife Institute isa national, non-profit,

conservation organization

whose mission is to helpindividuals and families

establish or improve the wildlifehabitat on their properties.

space, and the arrangement ofthese components.

In addition, humans aren’t theonly forces causing change.Browsing deer, when over-abundant, can remove a forestunderstory; insects, such asgypsy moths, can defoliatelarge areas of canopy cover,thus changing the amount ofavailable light; beavers alterwater levels; and disease cannearly wipe out entirepopulations of trees, such asoccurred with chestnuts andelms in this country.

We humans are the onlycreatures who can planchanges with a view to thegreater good, and sometimesthoughtful activism can be

RESOURCES

s Cooperative Extension Service (to find an office in your state):http://www.reeusda.gov/1700/statepartners/statetext.htm

s Forestry and Wildlife Education site:www.naturalresources.umd.edu

s USDA Forest Service: download the NED Forest StewardshipPlanning Guide at: www.fs.fed.us/ne/burlington/index.htm

s Your State Department of Natural Resources:www.dnr.state.md.us/forests (other states can be found with aweb search)

s Your local Farm Service Agency (to locate an office in yourstate):http://www.fsa.usda.gov/

s Natural Resources Conservation Service: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/

s Penn State (lots of information to order on forestmanagement):http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/forestry.html

better than “benign neglect"when it comes to promotingwildlife diversity.

There is a lot of concern todayabout “riparian buffers." Theseare the woodlands which bordera stream or other source ofwater, where the forest soil andmat of tree roots are crucial forfiltering out pollutants beforethey enter the water supply.

The trees also shade thewater, keeping it cool enough forcertain aquatic species.

In many cases, these buffershave become very narrow or havedisappeared altogether. In somestates, there is money availableto help you restore or createriparian buffers.

If you have a stream runningthrough your property, perhapsyou can encourage yourneighbors to join you inprotecting the health of thatwaterway by planting treesand protecting any woodlandsthat already exist.

Stewardship of the land is aresponsibility, but it is also ajoy, and there is no betterlearning experience for bothchildren and adults.

Look at your property withan eye to management, andyou will reap the rewards foryears to come, as well ashaving the satisfaction ofknowing you are helping tosustain nature’s diversity forfuture generations.