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10: Wildlife Habitat Management

  • Page ID
    95301

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    Define wildlife management, and provide examples of why wildlife management is needed. 

    I. What do wildlife need? (Water, food, shelter)

    How can we improve those?

     

    I. Food

    A. Propogation

    ·         Describe and give examples for propogation (for “browse”, “mast”, or cereal crops)

    ·         Describe how planting food for herbivores also benefits carnivores

    B.  Release – reduction of competition

    ·         clearing out plants to allow others to grow

    ·         More room for different species

    ·         More room for healthy plants of same species

    ·         Types of Release

    o   Mechanical (layers of forest area)

    o   chemical (selective herbicides important)

    o   burning (controlled burns or prescribed burns)

    §  reduces dead load

    §  recycles nutrients to soil

    §  must be timed right

     

    II. Shelter and Protection

    §  Screening or fencing plants that are growing so they can grow big enough to serve as food

    §  Providing cover

    o   Thick plantings, brush piles, artificial nesting sites

    §  Example - barn swallow nests on campus

    §  Know other examples (nesting boxes, etc)

    §  Fencing/other means to keep bigger animals OUT so plants can recover (or exclude “nuisance” animals

    §  Highway over and underpasses

    §  Predator exclosures –fencing, metal collars around poles and trees

     

    III. Edge vs. interior species (give examples of species that use each)

    §  Edge –food, cover, water in close proximity to each other

    §  Interior –large stretches of undisturbed habitat

     

    IV. Water development

    §  Improvement of natural water sources (springs, seeps, water holes)

    §  Guzzlers –water tight tanks set in ground, collect rainwater, ramp leads to opening

    §  Artificial ponds, even bird baths

    §  (not all wildlife needs water sources)

     


    This page titled 10: Wildlife Habitat Management is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Karen Moody and Al Gonzalez (Open Educational Resource Initiative at Evergreen Valley College) .

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