We’ve owned our 21 acres for a little more than 25 years. During that time, I’ve been concentrating on developing it into an area where upland wildlife might find a home. This type of habitat is in especially short supply around much of Ohio, most of the state having given way to intensive agricultural use.
Wildlife habitat is defined as an area that meets the environmental conditions an animal needs to survive. This includes providing a species with the capabilities of gathering food, finding a mate and rearing young.
Habitats
In Ohio, the basic habitat types include forests, wetlands, prairies/plains and our Great Lake Erie — yes, fish need appropriate habitat, too. Included in these habitat systems are sub-types that fall within, and even between, these categories.
For instance, upland and lowland habitats are portions of plains that are categorized by their elevation above sea level. Lowlands are usually no higher than 660 feet above sea level, while uplands are somewhere between 660 and 1,600 feet. Ohio ranges from about 455 feet at the Ohio River to a high point of 1549.09 feet at Campbell Hill near Bellefontaine. Lake Erie lies at about 570 feet.
Each of these habitat types tends to be at its best when hosting a variety of plant life. Wait a second, I mentioned plants … wasn’t I talking about wildlife? Yes, thriving wildlife populations begin within a habitat based on suitable plant life. If we want to get even more basic, that plant life depends upon the soil in the same way a healthy field of corn or a good garden relies on the quality of that dirt.
Examples of the extremes can be found in strip-mined areas that have not been reclaimed as opposed to similar areas that have had the removed top soils replaced and tree or grass plantings established. Good habitat — as with good agricultural crops — relies upon soil quality as its foundation.
Part of understanding the relationship of the variety of plants in a particular habitat and the areas in which they’re found isn’t all that difficult. Whether a bird watcher, wildlife enthusiast or a hunter, I’m betting you already have a pretty good understanding, even if you don’t realize it.
If you’re hoping to spot a snowy egret or want to bag a mallard, you know to head to the local wetland. If you’re looking to add a bobolink to your life list or are taking your dog out to bag a pheasant, you’re likely heading to well-established grasslands. You’ve probably even learned that the edges of habitat types increase those chances of locating your quarry. Do you fish for bass at the center of the pond or closer to shore?
Back to basics
The basics of life – mine, your dog’s, a deer – are the same. They consist of food, water, shelter and usable space. Habitat requirements for wildlife change during the seasons of the year. The food they eat in the winter may be much different than what they eat in the summer. The cover they need for nesting may be very different than the cover they need during a winter storm. That’s why wildlife are so prone to be most plentiful where there is good habitat with a variety of edges in an area large enough to suit the species’ lifestyle.
With good nut-bearing trees and a water source, squirrels can live pretty comfortably in smaller spaces, like urban yards. While my 20 acres sounds immense to town dwellers and is popular with squirrels, it pales when faced with the needs of ring-necked pheasants. To visit it, you may think otherwise but the required space for that species is far more than what I have to offer. To thrive, ring-necks need similar areas of upland grasslands and brushy edges that are interconnected and laced through a patchwork of farm fields. How much grassland and brushy habitat do pheasants need? Hundreds even thousands of acres.
If you’re beginning to think that there’s more to this whole habitat thing than is first realized, you’re right! Tossing out habitat is good, doing it in an organized way with specific objectives is better. There are two basic goals in wildlife habitat management. One is to provide the best habitat possible for a particular wildlife species and the other is to provide habitat for as many different wildlife species as possible in one area.
Evaluate carefully
When evaluating habitat for a particular species, first decide which one(s) you want to impact. Once selected, identify the habitat requirements for each and evaluate the capability of the area (space) to provide those requirements. If the area can’t supply everything or can only partially provide the necessary habitat, management practices can be used to improve the habitat.
The species itself may help you out. Managing for deer is different than managing for bobwhites. Deer are far more mobile and can take advantage of their ability to travel distances for food or winter shelter. While the average quail lives its entire life inside of 20 to 40 acres and wild ringnecks may travel a mile, while whitetails are known to move 11 square miles or more. This means that managing for quails and ringnecks may involve manipulation of all of their habitat needs while managing the more mobile whitetail is done to provide a habitat type that’s beneficial during certain times of the year (think food plots).
It’s usually best to select management practices that provide the habitat requirements that are most lacking, thus limiting a wildlife population. For instance, if a species requires trees for cover with water nearby, and the habitat you’re evaluating has plenty of trees but no water, supplying water will improve the habitat more effectively than planting trees. When determining which management practices to apply, remember that improving habitat for some wildlife species may be either a positive or a negative to other wildlife species. It’s impossible to manage habitat for any one species without influencing others.
While all of this may sound complicated or involved, there’s professional help out there ready to lend you a hand at everything from developing a plan to actual implementation. The Ohio Division of Wildlife has private lands biologists ready to get you started – whether it’s planning a backyard pollinator project or developing hundreds of acres. Contact the division’s Wildlife Management Consultant for personalized information on managing your land, from stream corridors to pastures, prairies, woodlands and urban landscapes. Visit www.wildohio.gov or call 1-800- WILDLIFE.
There’s also Pheasants and Quail Forever. Known as the “Habitat Organization,” they have biologists ready to visit your farm and start you on the road to wildlife habitat restoration. They’re also well versed in federal programs that can add cash incentives to your plantings. To contact a representative, visit: https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Habitat/findBiologist.aspx.
While there is a learning curve, there are few things that bring as much of a reward as helping wildlife which cannot help itself.
“Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals.”
— Aldo Leopold
