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Forage
Forage Extension Program
Wildlife Enhancement and Development
Habitat Management Suggestions
for Selected Wildlife Species
By R.J. Mackie, R.F. Batchelor, M.E. Majerus, J.P. Weigand,
and V.P. Sundberg
"...rapid
environmental changes are not consistent with
the slow, natural biological limitation for adaptation
inherent in wild animals." |
In Montana country, wildlife has been an essential
part of human culture for at least 12,000 years. Prehistoric
occupants hunted wild animals for food, and used the
by-products for clothing, shelter, and tools. Beginning
with the white man's culture, about 160 years ago, beaver
pelts were important in commerce and were an inducement
to the exploration and settlement of the mountainous
West. Later, in the gold rush days following 1860, wild
animals were a major, and frequently only, source of
subsistence food. In modern times, game has become a
major recreational, aesthetic and economic asset to
Montana.
Many wild animals have obviously survived to this point
in history. Others have become extinct, or nearly so.
The survivors have accomplished this by adaptation through
millions of years of slowly changing geologic, climatic,
vegetative, and genetic stages. Drastic modifications
of the natural systems by man can, and have, resulted
in disruptions of habitat capable of destroying the
previously self-maintaining populations of wild animals.
The rapid clearing of forests, drainage of swamps, damming
of rivers, plowing of land, over-grazing of rangeland,
and other artificial and drastic disruptions to land,
water and plant complexes have severely affected the
numbers and distribution of the native, wild occupants.
Such rapid environmental changes are not consistent
with the slow, natural biological limitation for adaptation
inherent in wild animals. Therefore, hopes that the
wildlife assets can survive as a peripheral or incendental
by-product to domestic land and water uses may be only
wishful thinking. Their ability to survive will depend
upon their limited adaptability, preservation of vestiges
of a natural, diversified environment, and the deliberate
and knowledgeable application of suitable substitutes.
On public lands the utility of the wildlife resource
as a recreational and economic asset contributing to
human welfare has been reassessed. Administrative policy
for public lands includes provisions for management
specifically aimed at wildlife enhancement. Likewise,
private land operators are discovering the social and
economic advantages in supplementing their traditional
agricultural products by accommodating and managing
for harvestable game crops. Frequently only slight modifications
in land use practices are required to insure optimum
wildlife resources.
Improved range management for livestock, which encourages
the growth of vigorous climax or sub-climax plant complexes,
are beneficial to both livestock and wild animals. The
variety of grasses, forbs, and shrubs frequently resulting
from such management is consistent with maintaining
proper soil moisture conditions, and also provides the
seasonal food and cover requirements for both domestic
and wild species. Diversified plant complexes also decreases
the potential for competition between the various animal
species, domestic and wild. The relationship of the
various classes of animals to each other, and to the
plants upon which they feed, may be highly variable
and complex. Consequently positive recommendations regarding
practices adaptable to all combinations of circumstances
have limited practicality. For the purposes of this
handbook, however, certain suggestions with general
application will be summarized.
- Taller grasses provide better cover for wildlife
than short grasses.
- Native brush species are an essential item for the
survival of many wild species. Vigorous, palatable
shrubs are especially required for the proper nutrition
of wintering big animals and are used extensively
by upland game birds during all seasons of the year
for food and cover.
- Wildlife reacts favorable to a diversification of
plant communities and species that provide a maximum
variety of food and cover choices within a minimum
area.
- Residual native grasses and forbs found in fence
rows, on ditch banks, and within waste areas well
interspersed with cultivated land or heavily grazed
areas frequently mean the difference between no wildlife
and abundant wildlife on agricultural lands.
- When planting to enhance habitat for wildlife, plant
species contiguous to each other or in combinations
that provide for seasonal variations in plant growth,
maturity, and other food and cover qualities consistent
with the seasonal requirements of the wildlife desired.
- When consistent with local or state weed laws or
cultural practices, do not spray fence rows, ditch
or stream banks, and other natural or waste areas
with chemical herbicides. Existing areas of forbs,
grasses, and shrubs are major sources of food, winter
protection, and nesting cover for wildlife in
- Montana. Shrub growth on ditch and stream banks
provide an efficient control on stream bank erosion
and meandering at little or no cost to the landowner.
- Although proper grazing management of livestock
is generally consistent with wildlife production,
it may be necessary to provide additional seasonal
protection to key areas and certain species of grasses,
forbs, and shrubs for the benefit of wildlife.
Wildlife and Land Management
Wildlife is a product of the land. The presence or
abundance of a particular species is directly related
to the quality, diversity, and extent of its required
habitat. Productive, well-managed agricultural lands
have a tremendous potential to support vigorous wildlife
populations as they provide the kinds and diversity
of habitat elements needed by wildlife. Often, however,
as intensity of agricultural use of farm and rangeland
increases, diversity and other elements essential to
wildlife are lost and abundance declines, species change,
or wild animals that may have lived in harmony with
farming become pests.
Wildlife responds to the way the land is managed. If
a part of the landscape is managed in a way to benefit
wildlife habitat, the response can be dramatic. Many
land management practices that are beneficial to wildlife
may, in turn, be beneficial to agricultural production
and result in positive economic returns.
The importance of the role of Montana's farms and ranches
in providing wildlife habitat should not be underestimated.
Most of the pheasants, partridge, waterfowl, and antelope,
and many of the deer and grouse in the state are found
on agricultural crop and pasturelands comprising Montana's
farms and ranches. There are many opportunities where
farmers and ranchers can develop and implement land
and water conservation practices that will result in
needed control of the loss of soil and water, and, at
the same time, greatly enhance those areas for wildlife
production. Examples of the possible effects of various
land management practices on wildlife, agricultural,
and economic resources are given in the "Land Management
Practices" Table.
Plant Species for Enhancing Wildlife Habitat
Values
Many plant species useful in meeting food and cover
needs of wildlife can be employed in windbreaks and
other conservation plantings for soil and water conservation
or simply to attract wildlife or enhance wildlife habitat
on the farm or ranch. Examples of such plants and recommendations
for their use are listed in the following tables:
Descriptions and Information on Adaptations, Establishment,
Care and Wildlife uses of various Woody Plants
- Cover and food plants for upland game birds
- Cover and food plants for waterfowl
- Food plants for native grazing animals
- Shrubs and trees that provide cover and/or food
for upland game, songbirds and other wildlife
- Grasses for use in streambank protection
- Shrubs for streambank protection
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