Create Wildlife Habitat Anytime, Anywhere

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Finally, keep all your livestock out of streams and give the native grasses and brush a chance to come back and hold the banks together.

IN THE GRASSLANDS

Before our great-grandfathers moved west onto the prairie, that region was a sea of tall grasses, ribboned with small streams that were lined with rushes and willows. The nomadic grazing animals—buffalo and antelope—found plentiful food on the open range, and shelter in the creek bottoms. Song birds, predatory birds, and rodents all sought nourishment, shelter, and nesting grounds in the tall grass and brush that followed the courses of the streams.

Today, our vast prairieland is crisscrossed with fences and roads . . . the fields are plowed or heavily grazed . . . and the nomadic animals won't ever be back in the numbers that once existed. Unfortunately, too, most of our original prairie birds nest in the springtime . .. whereas the majority of prairie crops don't provide nesting cover until midsummer. The land often lies open and bare to soil erosion from wind and rain . . . and the meandering streams have become muddy ditches in which cattle wallow to escape the summer's heat.

Crops are planted from fence to fence. Herbicides destroy the native grasses, and insecticides poison the birds and their food sources.

Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect our farmers to sacrifice their livelihood (and perhaps our lunch) . . . but we can, with conscientious planning and management, give some prairie space back to support the native species, while still maintaining high crop yields. And, if you live in such an area, you can do your share:

Keep your rangeland in good condition. Do some seeding to reestablish grazed-out grasses and maintain good ground cover. (Seeds for plants native to the region can be obtained from Prairie Restoration, Inc., Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 327, Princeton, Minnesota 55371. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope when writing for information.)

Rotate your livestock . . . don't allow the same animals to graze in the same field for an entire year. Instead, open one field this spring, and then allow the pasture to go to seed and put on some root growth in the fall. Next year, graze it in the autumn, allowing the grasses to grow as nesting cover during the spring.

Better still, rest a pasture for an entire year . . . to let it reseed, put on growth, and provide winter cover for birds and small mammals. Distribute your livestock's watering holes, salt licks, and shade so that the animals won't spend all their time in the same spot, overusing and compacting that area. And always fence domestic animals out of stream bottoms.

Next, try to reestablish the stands of grasses and brush along streamsides in order to attract birds and small animals. (This action will also help to maintain water purity . . . reduce the stream's flow rate . . . provide shade . . . and cool the temperature enough to support greater numbers of fish, which—of course—do a good job of eating mosquito larvae! )

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print