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Message
Native Habitat Restoration for Wildlife
Posted on 7/4/23 at 10:37 am
Posted on 7/4/23 at 10:37 am
I’m not new to this board, but I am new under this name. I’ve started a podcast talking about native habitat restoration/management under this name: Restoring the Ground. The podcast is on Spotify and Apple. I also have a Facebook page - Restoring The Ground.
The podcast will primarily be about habitat restoration on a 218 acre property that was 95% clear cut 5 years ago. I will be sharing my journey of trying to find information on what to do with a young cut over, and where I have found help and feedback. I have found that almost no one talks about how to restore a property that has been clear cut.
A forester wants to spray herbicide and replant in pine trees, and no one else really gives any information on what to do.
I found help from a Wildlife Biologist through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. He has been very helpful to give feedback, answer questions, and someone I can bounce ideas off of.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the last 16 months brush cutting to create Old Field type settings. I will talk about the successes and failures I’ve had in these areas. I’ll talk about what and Old field setting is and the vegetation that is preferable for wildlife. I will refer quite a bit to articles written by Wildlife Biologists and studies they have produced, and then tell you my results as I try to put them into practice.
Through guidance from my wildlife biologist, I went and got my burn certificate this spring through the state of Mississippi. I will talk about what it takes to do that, how to do it, and then give feedback on my burn results.
By trade, I am a Landscape Horticulturist and own a landscape business. I am also a man with a strong faith in the Lord. These things will come out in the podcast also.
My goal is to help others with the things that I have learned. I spoke with the Biologist who has been helping me and asked him if there was a need for this since so much of the south is managed for timber. His response was absolutely because so many people are either buying land that has been clear cut or own land that they clear cut themselves and they are not sure what to do with it after the cutting except replant in monoculture pine trees.
He has volunteered to come on the podcast with me to answer questions, and I will gladly answer any questions that I can. I introduce who I am in the podcast and look forward to feedback. I hope that I can help someone as they walk through the journey of restoring the ground of their property.
LINK
The podcast will primarily be about habitat restoration on a 218 acre property that was 95% clear cut 5 years ago. I will be sharing my journey of trying to find information on what to do with a young cut over, and where I have found help and feedback. I have found that almost no one talks about how to restore a property that has been clear cut.
A forester wants to spray herbicide and replant in pine trees, and no one else really gives any information on what to do.
I found help from a Wildlife Biologist through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. He has been very helpful to give feedback, answer questions, and someone I can bounce ideas off of.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the last 16 months brush cutting to create Old Field type settings. I will talk about the successes and failures I’ve had in these areas. I’ll talk about what and Old field setting is and the vegetation that is preferable for wildlife. I will refer quite a bit to articles written by Wildlife Biologists and studies they have produced, and then tell you my results as I try to put them into practice.
Through guidance from my wildlife biologist, I went and got my burn certificate this spring through the state of Mississippi. I will talk about what it takes to do that, how to do it, and then give feedback on my burn results.
By trade, I am a Landscape Horticulturist and own a landscape business. I am also a man with a strong faith in the Lord. These things will come out in the podcast also.
My goal is to help others with the things that I have learned. I spoke with the Biologist who has been helping me and asked him if there was a need for this since so much of the south is managed for timber. His response was absolutely because so many people are either buying land that has been clear cut or own land that they clear cut themselves and they are not sure what to do with it after the cutting except replant in monoculture pine trees.
He has volunteered to come on the podcast with me to answer questions, and I will gladly answer any questions that I can. I introduce who I am in the podcast and look forward to feedback. I hope that I can help someone as they walk through the journey of restoring the ground of their property.
LINK
This post was edited on 7/4/23 at 11:36 am
17
Posted on 7/4/23 at 10:41 am to Restoringtheground
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:00 am to Restoringtheground
Refreshing, most just use land for money. Cut down hardwoods and plant pines, or they develop it. Good to see someone use their land and do habitat restoration. I have no idea how to help as I'd go buckwild planting persimmons, honey locust trees, white oaks, maybe build a decent pond, etc. I assume it will take a long time to get it right. I don't really know how native you are going, like the type of brush and trees pre-Europeans? Interesting topic.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:25 am to Mushroom1968
Here are a few of my goals: restore the land to the way the Lord created it so that native species thrive. Here are some of the native forbs, legumes, grasses and trees that cover my place in abundance.
Wild plum, huckleberries, blueberries, wild grapes/muscadine, blackberries/brambles, persimmons, mulberry, American beauty berry bush, pokeweed, partridge pea, ragweed, goldenrod, black eyed Susan’s, little/big blue stem grasses, etc. Then a variety of oaks (red,white and black), and pines.
I also have a bunch of hickory and sweet gum, but have a plan with a forester to come in and remove them all for pulp in 10-12 more years.
Wild plum, huckleberries, blueberries, wild grapes/muscadine, blackberries/brambles, persimmons, mulberry, American beauty berry bush, pokeweed, partridge pea, ragweed, goldenrod, black eyed Susan’s, little/big blue stem grasses, etc. Then a variety of oaks (red,white and black), and pines.
I also have a bunch of hickory and sweet gum, but have a plan with a forester to come in and remove them all for pulp in 10-12 more years.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:27 am to Restoringtheground
If you get a chance to visit the strawberry plains nature center near Holly Springs MS you should go. They’ve been doing this for years and have some great guest speakers. Their hummingbird festival is in Sept and is a good time to visit.
Doug Tallamy has some great books on this subject. I would start with “Bringing Nature Home”.
Doug Tallamy has some great books on this subject. I would start with “Bringing Nature Home”.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:33 am to TimeOutdoors
I have an absolute abundance of birds, insects, butterflies, etc.
Late summer last year, when the golden rod was all blooming, we had butterflies by the thousands. I would walk or ride through one of my areas that I brush cut and insects are flying and jumping all over the place with butterflies flying all around you.
I’m going to be doing controlled burns in intervals all across the property and at different seasons of the year to help get the desired results of vegetation.
Late summer last year, when the golden rod was all blooming, we had butterflies by the thousands. I would walk or ride through one of my areas that I brush cut and insects are flying and jumping all over the place with butterflies flying all around you.
I’m going to be doing controlled burns in intervals all across the property and at different seasons of the year to help get the desired results of vegetation.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:34 am to Restoringtheground
quote:
Wild plum, huckleberries, blueberries, wild grapes/muscadine, blackberries/brambles, persimmons, mulberry, American beauty berry bush, pokeweed, partridge pea, ragweed, goldenrod, black eyed Susan’s, little/big blue stem grasses, etc. Then a variety of oaks (red,white and black), and pines.
I also have a bunch of hickory and sweet gum, but have a plan with a forester to come in and remove them all for pulp in 10-12 more years.
Very interesting, would be cool to post pictures on here one day. Goldenrod is great for honey bees. That's awesome, enjoying your podcast so far. Lot's of cool trees and brush. I can't stand for some reason to see nothing but pine trees. I've never owned a lot of land and have only lived in New Orleans and Shreveport but I do hunt, and enjoy wildlife. I'd love to do what you are doing one day in a cost effective way.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:34 am to Restoringtheground
I have a question for you.
About 40 acres of my place are clear cut pine, did the loggers or someone else get rid of the stumps?
That’s my biggest issue is all the stumps.
About 40 acres of my place are clear cut pine, did the loggers or someone else get rid of the stumps?
That’s my biggest issue is all the stumps.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:37 am to bbvdd
No, most of my pine stumps have rotted to nothing. Granted, they are about 5 years post cut.
Controlled burns will help get rid of them also.
Controlled burns will help get rid of them also.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:47 am to Mushroom1968
I’m not real good at posting pictures here, but the Restoring the Ground Facebook page is open to Public and I plan to post all pictures there.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:55 am to Restoringtheground
Found your FB page, good pictures. Good luck on continuing your journey.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 11:58 am to Restoringtheground
Burning every couple of years will go a long way to getting you where you want to be
Posted on 7/4/23 at 12:06 pm to Mushroom1968
I’m going to try to keep this topic updated as I add podcast and information.
This has been an adventure. It’s work but it’s so fulfilling and rewarding. I love to share what I’m learning and my wife is tired of hearing me talk about it all the time. Lol
This has been an adventure. It’s work but it’s so fulfilling and rewarding. I love to share what I’m learning and my wife is tired of hearing me talk about it all the time. Lol
Posted on 7/4/23 at 12:14 pm to wickowick
My current burn plan has changed a few times. The more I listen to Dr Lashley talk about burning, the more I learn.
The areas where I want the trees to grow will probably not get burned for another 4-5 years. I need them to get to a size where the fire will not kill a large majority of the trees when I burn the first time. That will be roughly 160-170 acres and will mostly be on my hillsides.
My old field settings I plan to burn on an every 2 year rotation.
I burned about 30 acres total this year with about a 50-60 percent burn in those 30 acres. I didn’t get the results I completely hoped for but that was mostly because I wasn’t burning in optimal conditions and had to force the burn. I’m limited with time and have to burn on weekends. Well, a light rain Friday afternoon doesn’t work for a good burn Saturday afternoon, but it’s better than nothing.
Biologist talk about a June/July burn but I’m not sure how to do that when everything is so stinking green and full of moisture. I tried in early June on one of the areas that didn’t burn the first time and it did very little.
I’ll be talking more in depth on this in a future podcast.
The areas where I want the trees to grow will probably not get burned for another 4-5 years. I need them to get to a size where the fire will not kill a large majority of the trees when I burn the first time. That will be roughly 160-170 acres and will mostly be on my hillsides.
My old field settings I plan to burn on an every 2 year rotation.
I burned about 30 acres total this year with about a 50-60 percent burn in those 30 acres. I didn’t get the results I completely hoped for but that was mostly because I wasn’t burning in optimal conditions and had to force the burn. I’m limited with time and have to burn on weekends. Well, a light rain Friday afternoon doesn’t work for a good burn Saturday afternoon, but it’s better than nothing.
Biologist talk about a June/July burn but I’m not sure how to do that when everything is so stinking green and full of moisture. I tried in early June on one of the areas that didn’t burn the first time and it did very little.
I’ll be talking more in depth on this in a future podcast.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 1:02 pm to Restoringtheground
quote:
I have found that almost no one talks about how to restore a property that has been clear cut.
quote:
A forester wants to spray herbicide and replant in pine trees, and no one else really gives any information on what to do.
Not trying to be an arse, but you've been looking in the wrong place if you haven't found the information you're looking for.
There are literally thousands of examples out there of people doing what you're doing. I've worked with dozens in LA myself, and I don't deal with these situations near as much as others in my agency (NRCS). Your biologist buddy with MDWF should know there are people that deal with this, and even podcasts that discuss this, albeit maybe not in the detail you may decide to.
That being said, I love what you're going for here in documenting it through social media and podcasts for others to follow along and learn from. Knowledge sharing is an important part of resource management.
Now I have another podcast to add to my ridiculously long list of follows...
Posted on 7/4/23 at 1:29 pm to Cowboyfan89
I’ve listened to almost all of the MSU deer lab podcast, Land and Legacy podcast, Fire University, Drop Tine podcast, etc.
When it comes to fire, no one talks about how to burn a young stand of trees and not kill them all. Sure, people talk about burning the whole area and starting over, but not how to manage the 4-5 yrs of established regeneration growth.
No one talks about how to take a cutover that was left to grow back naturally and cultivate it to its best potential without starting over. Anything that I have found has been very vague or they are complete start over projects. What I mean by start over is burn/herbicide and replant.
The only thing I have planted in this project is food plots and it’s all that I plan to plant. My goal will be to do that on a Buffalo/No Till system as regenerative foodplotting.
If I’m missing some good podcast/reading information that you can share, please do so.
I’m like you, i have too many podcast that i currently listen to but I love to learn and I love seeing the results.
When it comes to fire, no one talks about how to burn a young stand of trees and not kill them all. Sure, people talk about burning the whole area and starting over, but not how to manage the 4-5 yrs of established regeneration growth.
No one talks about how to take a cutover that was left to grow back naturally and cultivate it to its best potential without starting over. Anything that I have found has been very vague or they are complete start over projects. What I mean by start over is burn/herbicide and replant.
The only thing I have planted in this project is food plots and it’s all that I plan to plant. My goal will be to do that on a Buffalo/No Till system as regenerative foodplotting.
If I’m missing some good podcast/reading information that you can share, please do so.
I’m like you, i have too many podcast that i currently listen to but I love to learn and I love seeing the results.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 2:03 pm to Restoringtheground
quote:
If I’m missing some good podcast/reading information that you can share, please do so.
I'm not talking about podcasts or reading material (although there are surely some out there). There are professionals like the biologist you spoke to that deal with the exact scenario you are talking about.
quote:
No one talks about how to take a cutover that was left to grow back naturally and cultivate it to its best potential without starting over.
That's likely because in most cases, the landowner is either interested in managing for timber production (so the natural regen species don't accomplish this), or interested in restoring a native ecosystem, and the natural regen species don't meet that objective.
I've seen loblolly clearcuts coming up in sweetgum, water oak, and other hardwoods, and the landowner wanted to go back to historic longleaf pine. You can't accomplish that without wiping it clean. I've also been on upland hardwood clearcuts that were so grown over with brush and briars that the only logical choice to get a desirable stand was to set it back.
That's not to say those are the only options available, and that you couldn't do exactly what you are trying to accomplish. I had a call a few weeks ago about a landowner wanting to manage a natural hardwood regen. If the desirable species are there in sufficient quantities to meet the management objectives, it's certainly doable.
quote:
When it comes to fire, no one talks about how to burn a young stand of trees and not kill them all. Sure, people talk about burning the whole area and starting over, but not how to manage the 4-5 yrs of established regeneration growth.
This is definitely something I don't have alot of familiarity with, especially with hardwoods because we just don't have alot of upland hardwoods. But based on the species you listed before, some of them, like the sweetgum, will likely have high mortality, as they are not fire tolerant. I would imagine keeping your fuel load down is going to be critical with a young stand. A fire that gets too big/too hot is going to kill trees.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 2:19 pm to Restoringtheground
Have you had any conversations with quail forever biologist? They are free and available for advice
Posted on 7/4/23 at 2:43 pm to Restoringtheground
If you have not already look up these gentleman on YouTube:
Joel Saladin
Greg Juedy
Gabe Brown
Allen Willliams
There are farms and ranches scattered around the globe that are not using chemical inputs to the land and livestock and are producing At great rates. It’s a total mind shift from what everyone has been taught by the ag business / suppliers over the past 75 years.
Also look up UnderstandingAg from there you will see the Soil Health Academy.
Most of the restorative agriculture is done by utilizing animals for the desired impact to bring the soil and native landscape back to what it once was. Basically it’s not chemistry as much as it is biology both plants and animals working together.
How soil samples taken and analyzed say you needed to add chemicals? Almost every time right ? Fertilizer companies love to sell you their chemicals. Got to be another way than to just keep dumping chemicals into the ground. Restorative agriculture I believe is that.
Joel Saladin
Greg Juedy
Gabe Brown
Allen Willliams
There are farms and ranches scattered around the globe that are not using chemical inputs to the land and livestock and are producing At great rates. It’s a total mind shift from what everyone has been taught by the ag business / suppliers over the past 75 years.
Also look up UnderstandingAg from there you will see the Soil Health Academy.
Most of the restorative agriculture is done by utilizing animals for the desired impact to bring the soil and native landscape back to what it once was. Basically it’s not chemistry as much as it is biology both plants and animals working together.
How soil samples taken and analyzed say you needed to add chemicals? Almost every time right ? Fertilizer companies love to sell you their chemicals. Got to be another way than to just keep dumping chemicals into the ground. Restorative agriculture I believe is that.
Posted on 7/4/23 at 3:05 pm to Restoringtheground
If you are wanting “Old Field” then burn now-October. Under brush and disk where you can. I don’t know your property, but if you have bottoms/swags make Firebreaks to keep the fires out of them so that you can burn them if and only if/when you want to.
Checkerboard your property and don’t make the blocks long and skinny try to keep them squarish-circular. This will allow you to have different timing burns. Couple blocks might be burned 1-2 years, next set 3-4, next set every year and so forth and so forth.
Make sure you are wanting “Old Field” and not confusing it with “Oak Savannah”
Checkerboard your property and don’t make the blocks long and skinny try to keep them squarish-circular. This will allow you to have different timing burns. Couple blocks might be burned 1-2 years, next set 3-4, next set every year and so forth and so forth.
Make sure you are wanting “Old Field” and not confusing it with “Oak Savannah”
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