Shrubs & Trees for Wildlife

Transcription

1 Shrubs & Trees for Wildlife Jodie Provost, Private Land Habitat Specialist MN DNR Forest Wildlife Habitat Team Jan. 26, 2017 at Duluth & Feb. 1, 2017 at Virginia

2 We Will Discuss: Consider your landscape/neighborhood & local wildlife & habitat needs. Forest habitat management basics. The right native shrubs & trees encouraged or planted in the right place can benefit habitat & wildlife. Protecting what you plant. Available assistance programs.

3 Consider Your Landscape/Neighborhood & Local Habitat. Ask What landscape does your land lie in? What wildlife species occur in your landscape? Which of these wildlife do you want to benefit? Which of their habitat needs are met or not met on your land and surrounding land? What missing habitat needs can you realistically provide on your land? What habitat mgt. practices are best used to provide those missing habitat needs and maintain existing desired habitat?

4 Consider Your Landscape - Ecological Classification System Identifies, describes and maps progressively smaller areas of land with increasingly uniform ecological features. Considers associations of biotic and environmental factors, including climate, geology, topography, soils, hydrology, and vegetation. Enables resource managers to consider ecological patterns and identify areas with similar mgt. opportunities or constraints. Virginia Duluth In MN, Provinces (4), Sections (10), Subsections (26), Land Type Associations (291), Land Types, and Land Type Phases are mapped. Subsections Examples in NE MN (Laurentian Mixed Forest Province) North Shore Highlands along North Shore; pre-settlement veg. of white-red pine forest common on clay lake plain & on thin soil over bedrock in south half; mixed hardwood-pine forest with sugar maple on ridges of the dissected clay lake plain and Highland Flutes; in north half aspen-birch dominant, mixed hardwood-pine forest on ridgetops within 6-10 miles of shore; & conifer bogs & swamps. Nashwauk Uplands - Virginia area; pre-settlement veg. of white-red pine forest & jack pine barrens on outwash plains; aspen-birch forest & mixed hardwood-pine forest on moraines & till plains; conifer bogs & swamps.

5 Consider Your Landscape - Native Plant Communities A group of native plants that interact with each other & their environment, not greatly altered by modern human activity or by introduced organisms. Form recognizable units, such as oak savannas, pine forests, or marshes, that tend to repeat over space & time. North Shore Highlands Example - White Pine - Red Pine Forest (FDn43a) - Canopy dominated by white & red pine with occasional paper birch, balsam fir, white spruce, quaking aspen or white cedar. Balsam fir common in sub-canopy & shrub layer. Ground/shrub layer beaked hazel, fly honeysuckle, mt. maple, wild sarsaparilla, large-leaved aster, bluebead lilly, bunchberry, Canada mayflower, pipsissewa. Nashwauk Uplands Example Lowland White Cedar Forest (WFn53b) Canopy dominated by white cedar, sometimes with abundant black ash. Balsam fir & paper birch occasionally present. Often open below canopy. Ground layer - rattlesnake fern, common strawberry, touch-me-nots, red baneberry, lowbush blueberry, n. bugleweed, n. marsh fern.

6 Consider Your Landscape - Know & Appreciate What You Have! -Learn to understand, appreciate, enhance & work with native habitats & wildlife on your land. - Not every parcel of land can or should provide everything! 6

7 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics Great Forest Mgt.= Great Wildlife Habitat Mgt. All management done in your forest benefits some plants & animals & harms others. How you manage your forest today determines the wildlife tomorrow. Understand your values, determine your goals, & develop a stewardship plan! Snag Grouse Hard wood Dee r Clearcut Herp Riparian Warbler Turkey

8 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics Food, Water, Cover, Space - Their Arrangement is Important Key habitat components required by woodcock

9 Remember to Consider - Habitat Components: Food, Water, Cover, Space Carrying capacity of the land: Number of individuals an environment can support without significant negative impacts to the given organism and its environment. Limiting factor: A need (e.g., for food, water, nest sites) that suppresses populations. Fulfilling the need increases the population to a new carrying capacity

10 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics - Succession - Habitat management = manipulation of vegetation. - Where on successional continuum do you want to maintain habitat?

11 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics - Structure Maintain plant community structure & diversity All forest layers (from soil, leaf litter, woody debris, herbaceous plants, shrubs, sub-canopy to canopy layer) provide food, cover & microhabitats for wildlife. Greater plant, structural & age diversity of your forest = more niches & more wildlife species present.

12 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics - Structure Retain sufficient dead & live standing trees & woody debris during harvest.

13 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics Wildlife Home Ranges Tens to hundreds of square miles, may travel far for fall food Up to 15 square miles or more Up to 35 acres Up to 1300 acres, dep. on habitat, may migrate to deer yards in hard winters Average ~ 30 acres Up to 6 acres

14 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics - Natives & Biodiversity Why encourage native plants? Adapted to your soil & climate & thus grow successfully with the least amount of effort = Sustainability! Wildlife have co-evolved with them. Native plants & wildlife depend upon each other for seed dispersal, pollination & predator-prey relationships that keep them in balance with ecosystem.

15 Biodiversity Having it means The variety & abundance of landscapes/regions, ecosystems, habitats, species & their genetics. All Nature s parts are present and functioning (e.g. leaves to photosynthesize, birds to eat insects,...). Ecological processes are occurring (e.g. nutrient cycling, succession, ). The landscape, habitats and species populations are more resilient (i.e., more likely to withstand disease, invasives, climate change ), And sustainable (i.e., will remain healthy into future).

16 Forest Habitat Mgt. Basics - We Can. Avoid fragmenting & parceling remaining forests. Maintain layers canopy, understory, shrub layer, herb layer, forest floor, soil. Favor native, fruit& nut producing trees & shrubs. Clear small wildlife openings areas to allow sunlight. Create openings, layers of vegetation in conifer plantations. Leave large dead & lives nags & reserve clumps when harvesting. Leave brush piles & adequate woody debris scattered. Consider maintaining old growth forest characteristics. Maintain & enhance riparian forests. Protect wetlands & vernal/ephemeral ponds. Avoid introducing invasive plants & animals. Delay mowing trails/wildlife openings until August. Encourage conifer & manage for mixed species, diverse forests where possible.

17 And Enhance Habitat with Shrubs & Trees They provide food - mast (seeds, nuts, acorns), berries, catkins, buds, browse, insects, And cover - downed logs, brush piles, uprooted trees, snags, tree cavities (allow some forest areas to grow old), for nesting sites, roosting sites, dens, perches, prey habitat,

18 Often We Can Maintain & Encourage What s Present Release, thinning Wildlife openings Timber harvest, then natural regeneration or natural seeding Prescribed burning Natural succession

19 And If Needed or Desired, Plant Native Shrubs & Trees Pick natives & species suited to soil & sun/shade conditions. Be prepared to protect what you plant. 1/4/

20 Protect What You Plant Fencing Repellents Bud Capping Individual plant barriers (tree shelters must have covers) Population Control Do not feed deer Species Preferences Note: Tree mats may increase browsing

21 Shrubs & Trees Most Beneficial to Wildlife The following natives are all rated as Excellent for Wildlife in Landscaping for Wildlife

22 Shrubs for Moist Soils Red Osier Dogwood Winterberry Willows Highbush Cranberry Gray Dogwood American Elderberry American Hazelnut Juneberry Pin Cherry Black Chokeberry

23 Shrubs for Acidic Soils Winterberry Blueberries Shrubs for More Dry Soils Staghorn Sumac Lowbush Blueberry Common Juniper Choke Cherry Sand Cherry American Wild Plum

24 Trees for Moist Soils Black Ash Tamarack Black Spruce Swamp White Oak Northern White Cedar Mountain Ash Balsam Fir Hackberry Bur Oak Red Oak White Spruce

25 Trees for More Dry Soils Aspen Black Cherry Green Ash N. Pin Oak Red Pine White Pine Jack Pine Northern White Cedar White Oak

26 Technical & Financial Assistance Programs MN DNR Private Forest Management Cost share for stewardship plans & practices. Contact your local PFM Forester (Hibbing-Roger Nelson, Cloquet/Two Harbors-Thor Pakosz, or Tower-Steven Horndt). USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) & Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). Contact local NRCS District Virginia or Duluth. USFWS Partners for Fish & Wildlife Especially interested in migratory wildlife, federally endangered & threatened species & wetland &stream restorations. Contact John Riens, Private Land Biologist for NW MN, /4/

27 Key Take Home Messages: Consider your landscape & local habitat & wildlife needs. Remember forest habitat management basics. Encouraging & planting the right native shrubs & in the right place can improve habitat & benefit wildlife. Be prepared to protect what you plant. Assistance programs are available.

28 For more info, please contact me at: Jodie Provost, Certified Wildlife Biologist Private Land Habitat Specialist MN DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife 1200 Minnesota Ave. S., Aitkin, MN Let us be protectors of one another & of the environment. Pope Francis