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Habitat Work Underway On State Game Lands
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The Game Commission’s teams of land managers, foresters and Food and Cover Corps crews are focusing their efforts – and the agency’s resources – on a massive amount of habitat improvement projects on the more than 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands this spring.
“Wildlife habitats are changing across the landscape as farming practices evolve and urban/suburban expansion convert former wildlife habitats into various types of developments, from homes to shopping malls,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “According to Pennsylvania’s Wildlife Action Plan, 300 acres of wildlife habitat are being lost every day, primarily to sprawl. Some counties have seen an increase in housing units exceeding 20 percent in recent decades.
“For this reason, the Game Commission’s network of State Game Lands is critical to ensuring that wildlife will always have access to the three habitat components it needs to survive: food, shelter and water. And, through our habitat improvement efforts, we strive to ensure habitat diversity for all wildlife.”
As an example, Dan Yahner, Land Management Group Supervisor (LMGS) for Fayette and Somerset counties, said plans are being made to develop SGL 93 in Somerset County into small game habitat.
“The majority of the 600-plus-acre SGL is a reclaimed strip mine backfill,” Yahner said. “Phase one is conversion of the mining sediment ponds into large shallow wetland areas. Phase two will be spraying to eliminate the fescue grasses and locust trees that were planted solely to establish ground cover. These plants have practically zero benefit to wildlife. Then the land will be laid out into contour strips and planted with a variety of annual and perennial plants.
“Fields of mixed clover and small grains such as sorghum, wheat, rye and sunflower will be planted for food. Fields of warm season grasses will be planted for nesting and escape cover. Fence rows of fruit-producing shrubs and trees also will be added. The Food and Cover Crew in Somerset County is basically starting with a blank slate that currently is barren of small game. If all goes according to plan, within five years, this new SGL 93 should be a paradise of small game hunting.”
Northcentral Region Field Forester Larry Sheats said a detailed analysis was completed on SGLs 98, 114 and 323 in Clearfield, Lycoming and Centre counties, respectively.
“The analysis included habitat species composition, soil production potential, operability, age class and spatial distribution of habitats, proposed permanent early successional (seedling/sapling stage) extended rotation (mast) areas, and desired future habitat age class distribution,” Sheats said. “All of this data will be used by the agency to guide future habitat improvement decisions for these SGLs.”
Lycoming/Union Counties LMGS Tom Smith said, in an effort to provide better quality small game habitat on SGL 252 in Lycoming and Union counties, the Game Commission will contract out about 145 acres for brush-cutting.
“Predominantly invasive shrubs, such as honeysuckle, multiflora rose, and autumn olive, all stems less than five inches in diameter, are to be cut to ground level,” Smith said. “Desirable species that benefit wildlife, such as crabapple, apple, dogwood, and red osier dogwood, will be retained. The Food and Cover Crew also will be doing the same type of brush-cutting on another 21 acres.”
Bucks/Lehigh/Montgomery/Northampton Counties LMGS Dave Mitchell reported that, on SGL 168, in Northampton, Carbon and Monroe counties, his crews have cleared almost 40 acres of invasive barberry from some old fields. As a result, 20 acres will be planted in corn, soybeans and clover, and the remaining acreage will be allowed to revert to native plants.
“This should provide more food for wildlife than the area had in the past,” Mitchell said. “In addition, the crew recently ‘daylighted’ around 1,500 spruce trees on SGL 217, in Lehigh, Carbon and Schuylkill counties. These trees were planted in clear-cuts over the past 10 years. By daylighting them, the lower branches will continue to grow, providing good cover all the way to the ground. This is important thermal cover for many types of wildlife, including grouse. On SGL 234, in Montgomery County, the crew will be planting loblolly pines with the hopes of establishing dove-roosting areas.”
Crawford/Erie Counties LMGS Shayne A. Hoachlander reports that his Erie County Food and Cover Corps crew is using a vegetation-cutting machine mounted on a CAT skid steer machine to release apple and oak trees, regenerate shrub habitat, and convert small diameter single-leader red maple stands to shrubs on SGL 161 in Erie County.
Bedford/Fulton Counties LMGS Jonathan S. Zuck said crews have purchased spring planting supplies, including seed and fertilizer, and have already begun top-dressing clover plots.
“Crews now are planting fruit-producing trees and shrubs, as well as conifers on SGLs,” Zuck said. “In addition to planting duties, crews will be assisting with prescribed fires on warm-season grass stands and old field areas.”
Wayne/Pike/Lackawanna/Susquehanna Counties LMGS John C. Shutkufski said several acres of apple trees have been daylighted and pruned, and some areas also have been browse-cut on a number of SGLs in Wayne and Pike counties.
Roe noted that the Game Commission is mandated, by state law, to spend a specific amount of money on habitat improvement each year. That minimum is based on an established rate of $4.25 for each resident and nonresident adult general hunting license and $2 for each antlerless deer license. During the 2008-09 license year, the Game Commission sold 831,968 resident and nonresident adult general hunting licenses and 858,512 antlerless deer licenses, for a total minimum of $5,312,612.
“In reality, we spent $6,169,952 on habitat improvement projects, which was $857,340 more that the legislatively-mandated minimum,” Roe said. “This was not a one-time aberration, however, as we have routinely exceed the minimum threshold set by the Legislature because we recognize how important habitat improvement is for all wildlife.
“However, when you combine our stable license sales with the increasing costs of conducting habitat work – from gas prices to repairs of heavy equipment – we are seeing the amount of work we are able to accomplish stagnate or decline. Fortunately, with organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation and Pheasants Forever, we are able to do more than what our license dollars allow.”
Mercer/Venango Counties LMGS James J. Donatelli reports that deer and turkey are utilizing clover plots planted last summer on five Venango County SGLs with funding assistance from the Allegheny Sultans Chapter of the Wild Turkey Federation.
“As soon as the snow melted the new clover plots acted like wildlife magnets,” Donatelli said.
Columbia/Montour/Northumberland Counties Keith Sanford said Food and Cover Corps employees Jim Roberts and Marc Sechrist spent two weeks in February clearing about 15 acres of reverting brush habitat on PPL’s Montour Preserve, which is a part of Farm Game Project 91 in Montour County.
“The men used the Game Commission’s CAT 277 and 297 loaders/mowers to clear the acreage, which were re-planted with almost 11,000 aspen and alder seedlings and cuttings on April 10,” Sanford said. “The project goal is to create early succession habitat for ruffed grouse and woodcock, and is a cooperative effort with PPL, The Wildlife Management Institute, Woodcock Limited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever and the Game Commission.”
Berks/Schuylkill Counties LMGS Matthew D. Belding has been working for the last several years with the Schuylkill Spurs Chapter of the NWTF upgrading food plots on SGLs 326 and 257, both in Schuylkill County.
“The Turkey Federation will be spending more than $1,500 for lime, clover seed and fertilizer to improve the growing conditions for the food plots,” Belding said. “The NWTF volunteers have planted many apple trees on SGL 326 to produce a fall food source. Jeff Thomas from the NWTF has spent countless hours working on the food plots by spreading lime, planting and applying herbicide. All of the assistance we receive from the Schuylkill Spurs allows our Food and Cover Corps crew to work on other food plots throughout the county. This benefits not only the turkeys but deer, grouse and bears, too.”
Dauphin/Lebanon Counties LMGS Scott Bills reported that this spring the Food and Cover Corps crews will be planting a 1.5-acre field on SGL 145, in Lebanon County, with a mix of warm-season grasses and native forbs, including coneflowers, tick trefoil, and partridge pea.
“SGL 80, in Lebanon County, also will have a similar seed mix planted on the Boyer Tract and, through funding provided by the Lykens Valley Chapter of the NWTF, four acres of herbaceous openings in the Monroe Valley area will be limed and fertilized,” Bills said. “On SGL 211 near Yellow Springs in Stony Valley, in Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties, a four-acre field of crown-vetch and grasses will be killed, making way for a productive planting of half clover and half in mixed warm-season grasses and native forbs, and is being sponsored by the Stony Valley Chapter of NWTF.
“In the Clark’s Valley portion of SGL 211, old hedgerows made up of autumn olive and multi-flora rose will be removed and replanted in native shrubs and trees. Through a grant of $6,000 from NWTF, two ramped blinds will be constructed for disabled hunters along Luke’s Trail. In addition to the blinds, the road surface will be improved to make it more passable for hunters’ vehicles.”
Roe noted that the agency also has been using its share of federal Pittman-Robertson funds – which are derived from an excise tax collected on the sale of sporting arms and ammunition – to increase habitat-improvement projects. For example, Southwest Region Assistant Regional Forester Andy Hetrick reported on how federal aid funds benefit wildlife.
“As a result of an increase in Pittman-Robertson funding this year, the Southwest Region was provided an excellent opportunity to create 421 acres of early succession habitat in aspen forests on SGLs in Beaver, Cambria, Indiana and Washington counties,” Hetrick said. “The dense, young growth of recently cut aspen forests provides important food and cover for ruffed grouse, woodcock, and many other wildlife species.”
Southcentral Region Field Forester Roy Bucher recently completed drafting plans for a Pittman-Robertson funded project on SGL 170, in Perry County.
“The project is 24 acres and is in an old gypsy moth salvage block,” Bucher said. “In the block, most of the trees will be felled, herbicide will be applied to control invasive species, and many different species of trees will be planted in the block. The goal of the project is rehabilitate the site and improve habitat on the SGL.”
Roe said that the Game Commission’s land management teams have accomplished much so far this year, and that they have plans to do even more.
“I’ve long said that it is not our employee’s enthusiasm and ingenuity that limits our abilities to accomplish habitat projects to benefit wildlife; it is our limited financial resources that inhibits our capability to do more for wildlife,” Roe said. “There is no doubt that we can do more for wildlife if only provided the means to do so.”
More details are available online. For more information visit the Game Commission's Habitat Happenings webpage.
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5/3/2010 |
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