Managing your habitat

As a wildlife habitat becomes established and ages, it changes. Strategic mowing is the most common chore in the first years. Later comes burning to mimic natural cycles.

Just remember to call the fire chief first.

"I didn't know I was supposed to call them," says Bryan Herold, who torched a field of aging prairie grass on his 340-acre wildlife habitat near Indianola, Iowa. The grass had gotten too old and dense, and it was in need of renewal by either disking or burning. He chose burning.

"Everybody came," he says. "It was a learning experience." Bryan is now a loyal patron of the firehouse benefit breakfasts.

In spite of the drama, burning is an important management tool for grasslands because it releases nutrients into the soil. "You just don't want to burn too early in the spring," says Bryan. "If there's a big blizzard in March, you still need to have cover for the birds."

Tending a wilderness

David and Alice Betts of central Ohio now have a well-established wildlife habitat on their 389 acres. "The only maintenance I do is planting and mowing," says David. "That grass will be there 10,000 years from now if nobody bothers it. It's the same grass that used to be on the prairies when the settlers came here."

But the first years, while native plants send down deep roots  as much as 15 feet deep  take more work and patience. Eric Schlender of Wisconsin, a habitat specialist for Pheasants Forever, works with landowners to help them get through the early years. "A good prairie restoration takes five years," says Schlender. Mowing keeps down annual weeds while the grass and native flower roots develop. "We do manage it over the next five years for them, if they choose that," he says.

Wooded areas require a different set of chores. Randy Goerndt of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is a timber expert who works with area landowners, helping them with a method called crop tree release. "That's basically identifying crowded oaks that are dominant in the stand, the tallest," says Goerndt. "You cut down or kill trees around those and let their crown expand to produce more acorns. You can get up to a sevenfold increase in nut production." Those nuts are important for foraging deer and turkey.

Other habitat helpers

It's not just the plants that need to be managed. Soil needs attention, too, especially if you want to provide the three things wildlife need: a rich food source, cover, and nesting. Walter Hommer, a manager at Rolling Hill Farm Service in central Iowa, helps landowners reach this goal.

"The biggest thing with a food plot is you've got to get the pH right," says Hommer. "Most of the plots you want to have anywhere from a 6.7 to 7.0 pH."

Some of the wildlife that show up, however, may not be welcome. Just ask Alice Betts, who had to cope when a visiting family of beavers settled on their spring-fed pond one year. "We'd clear the drainage area, and the next night they'd have it blocked up again," she says. Thankfully, the beavers moved on.

Predators such as hawks will also be drawn to a good habitat. John Cardarelli wants to protect the breeding populations of game birds on his 563-acre habitat in Iowa.

"When trees get real tall in those fence lines, it provides perches for predators," he says. The solution is edge feathering. He tops the trees and lets the cut branches lie on the ground, providing more cover for wildlife.

Chores like that are part of the fun of having and maintaining a wildlife habitat, says John. "I've always got something planned to do."

5 management tips

The diverse areas and ages of your habitat may require different attention.

1. Disking. Mature fields of grass can be renewed periodically by disking to make room for new growth and by reseeding to add back plants that have been squeezed out by grasses.

2. Burning. As with disking, burning will make room for fresh growth. It also releases nutrients and triggers germination of some types of seed.

3. Crop tree release. Nut trees can be encouraged to expand by clearing room around them.

4. Mowing. Regular mowing of newly seeded areas will control annual weeds while the deep-rooted native plants get established.

5. Spraying. Sometimes stubborn weeds invade, and the only way out is to spray them.