Pine Forestland Habitat Management for Wildlife - Forest and ...

Reducing tree density is the first step indeveloping the grass and forb groundcover so valuable to quail and othergrassland species. Thinning reduces stemdensity and opens the forest canopy,allowing more sunlight to reach theground and stimulating growth of groundlayervegetation. In Mississippi, mostspecies of pines can be commerciallythinned for the first time at 13-18 yearsof age, depending on the site. Typicaltimber thins reduce basal area to about70 ft 2 /acre, but thinning stands to a basalarea of 60 ft 2 /acre or less produces bettergrassland wildlife habitat. If grasslandwildlife habitat is a greater priority thantimber production, a basal area as lowas 30 ft 2 /acre will produce optimalhabitat. It may be desirable to thin lessheavily during the first thinning, as treesmay be more vulnerable to ice or winddamage. Subsequent thins can then beused to reduce basal area to 60 ft 2 /acreor less. Periodic thins will be necessaryto maintain lower basal areas as treescontinue to grow after each thinning.Individual landowner objectives will vary,so consultation with a registered foresterand a wildlife biologist can help you findthe best balance that meets both yourwildlife and timber objectives.Pine plantation thinned along every fifth row.Notice the increased sunlight that is visible alongthe thinned row.

Prescribed fire in pineJust as thinning stimulates growthof grasses and forbs, it also releasesunderstory hardwood brush and treesthat will shade out desirable grasses andforbs if left unmanaged. Some form ofperiodic disturbance will be necessary tocontrol brush invasion. Prescribed fireand disking are two disturbance tools.When fuel conditions are appropriate forburning, thinned pine stands should beprescribe-burned during winter to earlyspring.Prescribed burning should alwaysbe conducted by a certified prescribedburn manager, who will develop a writtenburn plan and obtain appropriate permitsbefore burning. Check with your countyMississippi Forestry Commission officefor more information about prescribedburning regulations. If prescribed fireis not an option, light disking betweenthinned trees during fall or winter isan alternative for relatively clean sites.Always be especially cautious whendisking in woodlands to avoid damagingtree trunks and roots and to avoidpersonal injury or equipment damage.Soil disturbance, such as prescribed fireor disking, enhances habitat quality forquail and other grassland birds because itinhibits woody brush growth, promotesfavored seed producing plants, reducesplant residue, increases bare ground, andincreases insect abundance. The plantcommunities that develop following fireor disking also provide highly nutritiousforage for deer, rabbits, turkeys, andThinned pine stand with grass/forbunderstory after prescribed fireother wildlife. In the absence of soildisturbance, the plant communitycomposition changes over severalyears, and annual plants are replacedby perennial forbs and grasses andeventually, woody plants. This change inplant communities is called succession.By planning soil disturbances on a2– to 3–year rotation, you can managesuccession and develop a complex ofdifferent habitats that meet the seasonalhabitat requirements of a number ofwildlife species. For example, first-yearburn areas typically produce good quailbrood cover, whereas second- and thirdyearburn areas provide better nestingcover. A rotational burning plan can bedeveloped by creating 60-acre or smallerburn units and burning half to a thirdof these units one year, another half toa third the next year, and so on. Thus,a given unit is only burned every 2-3years, but some portion of the propertyis burned each year. A rotational diskingplan can be developed similarly. Disk ahalf to a third of suitable area each yearin a rotational fashion so that all suitableareas are disked every 2-3 years.

Pine stand invaded by hardwood brush (left)compared to a pine stand treated with selectiveherbicide (right). Notice the grass/forb understorypresent in the herbicide treated stand.Often, fire has been excluded from pinestands for so long that invasive hardwoodspecies can no longer be controlled bylow-intensity prescribed fires or disking.After thinning, if hardwood sprouts areabundant in the understory or midstory,it may be necessary to treat these standswith a selective herbicide such as imazapyr(e.g. Arsenal AC®). Chemical controlof invasive hardwoods is enhanced whenprescribed fire is used during the dormantseason following herbicide application(wait at least 6 months after applicationbefore burning to maximize herbicideeffectiveness). Once these hardwoodspecies are controlled with herbicide,future fire or disking treatments on a 2-to 3-year rotation should provide bettercontrol of hardwood invasions. Withsome planning, you can protect somemast/fruit producing hardwoods andshrubs from prescribed fire and herbicidetreatments. These scattered hard andsoft mast producing trees and shrubscan provide food and cover resourcesfor a diversity of wildlife. Invasive,non-native vegetation (e.g. kudzu,cogongrass) should also be controlledby herbicide treatment. Cogongrass,especially, is extremely invasive andseriously detrimental to native plantsand wildlife habitat. Herbicidal controlof all types of invasive vegetation will bemore economical and effective if invasivespecies are treated when they first appear.Contact a forester or wildlife biologistto develop a plan for controlling invasivevegetation.

A good way to produce more grasslandwildlife habitat in forestland is to createforest openings. For quail, 10% ormore of forested acreage should bemaintained in openings. These can becreated in established woodlands by clearcutting 1– to 5–acre patches throughoutforest stands. Openings can easily becreated during commercial thinningof pine stands. Plan ahead and haveyour forester mark out forest openingswhen marking timber for thinning. Formid-rotation pine plantations, a betterapproach to developing openings is tocreate interconnected forest openingsin a hub-and-spoke design. The huband-spokeopening consists of a centralopening (hub) from which open lanes(spokes) radiate through the pine standas if simulating a wagon wheel. Huband-spokeopenings can be created byremoving several adjacent rows of treesduring thinning of a pine plantation. Huband-spokelanes should be at least 30 feetwide to maintain grassy cover, and themaximum width of lanes will depend onhow much timber acreage you are willingto remove from production (generally, thewider the lanes, the better). Hub-andspokescan also be used as fire breaksfor prescribed burning of mid-rotationpine stands. Forest openings can also bedeveloped by widening or heavily thinningwoodland roadsides and maintaining logdecksor skid trails used during timberharvests. Forest openings may also beused for permanent or rotational foodplots planted to appropriate supplementalfood crops and log-decks during timberharvests. Prescribed fire or diskingon a 2- to 3-year rotation (describedabove) should be used to manage forestopenings.Aerial view of a hub-and-spoke forest opening.

Longleaf (left) and loblolly (right) pinesplanted at the same time and same seedlingdensity (about 600 trees per acre). Noticehow much more open the longleaf pinecanopy is than the loblolly pine canopy.As in established stands, a good wayto produce grassland wildlife habitat inregenerated forest stands is to createforest openings. You can create forestopenings by simply leaving some welldistributed 1– to 5–acre unplantedpatches of land when regenerating withplanted seedlings. A better approach todeveloping openings in pine plantationsis to create interconnected openingsin a hub-and-spoke design. With thehub and spoke design, grassland habitatcorridors can be maintained throughoutthe stand after the forest canopy closes.Without interconnecting forest openings,grassy openings within young pineplantations will become isolated andgenerally unusable for quail as the pinecanopy closes. Hub-and-spoke openingscan also serve as fire breaks to protectyoung plantations from wild fire and forprescribed burning in later years. Theseopenings are also useful for log-decksduring future timber harvests.

Converting former agricultural fieldsor pastures to pine forestland andmanaging for grassland wildlife habitat isaccomplished in the same general way asregeneration of recently harvested forests.However, pine plantings at these sitesshould be preceded by site preparationto control herbaceous competition. Thisis especially true when sod-forming, nonnativegrasses are present at the plantingsite. The most common of these invasive,non-native grasses include fescue,bahiagrass, bermudagrass, johnsongrass,and cogongrass. Both cogongrass andbermudagrass are extremely invasive andseriously detrimental to native plantsand wildlife habitat. These non-nativegrasses provide poor wildlife habitat andcompete with growing seedling trees.Longleaf pine seedlings are especiallysensitive to competition with invasive,non-native grasses. Eradication of thesegrasses will significantly improve longleafseedling survival. Non-native grassesshould be eradicated with an appropriateherbicide treatment, but the appropriatetreatment differs depending on whichnon-native grass or grasses are present.Consult with your forester to develop anappropriate herbicide prescription forpine establishment in former agriculturalfields. Once invasive grasses arecontrolled, these sites can be managedas recommended for forest regenerationsites. Wildlife habitat in these old fieldpine plantings may be further enhanced byplanting native grasses and forbs betweenseedling rows after non-native grasseshave been eliminated.Longleaf pine seedling in an old bahiagrasspasture. Habitat in this former pasturecould be improved by eradicating bahiagrassand allowing native grasses and forbs torecolonize the site.Longleaf pine planted in an old field

Developing an integrated forest-wildlifemanagement plan with a wildlife biologistand a registered forester can providevaluable assistance in the implementationof these practices for both wildlife habitatand timber management. A number ofcost-share programs exist that can helpwith implementation costs associated withforest management practices. In order tosuccessfully achieve management goals,clearly established objectives (forestwildlifemanagement plan) should be inplace before consulting with agenciesthat administer cost-share programs. Byplanning ahead, programs and practicesthat accomplish management objectivesand are financially sound may be selected.Following is a brief summary of financialassistance programs available for privatelandowners.The Conservation Reserve Program(CRP), Environmental Quality IncentivesProgram (EQIP), and ConservationSecurity Program (CSP) are availablefor landowners with eligible productionagriculture land. CRP providesconservation practices for field-levelmanagement, whereas EQIP and CSPare more oriented toward wholefarmmanagement. While many of thesame goals can be accomplished witheach program, there are differences ineligibility and financial incentives under

each program. If acreage is enrolledin an existing CRP pine woodlandconservation cover, mid-contractmanagement cost-shares are available forprescribed fire, herbicide application,and disking. Contact the countyU.S.D.A. Farm Service Agency officefor more information regarding CRP. Ifa whole-farm management program isapplicable to the property, contact thecounty U.S.D.A. Natural ResourcesConservation Service (NRCS) office formore information on EQIP or CSP. Forestmanagement practices available throughEQIP will depend on the county in whichthe property is located. Depending onland uses, multiple farm programs maybe applied to optimize conservation andfinancial benefits.The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program(WHIP), Forest Land EnhancementProgram (FLEP), and Forest ResourceDevelopment Program (FRDP) are availableto any non-industrial private forestlandowners. When fully funded, the HealthyForests Reserve Program (HFRP) will assistprivate landowners in restoring rare forestecosystems (e.g. longleaf pine) throughactive management and stewardship.Contact the county NRCS office aboutWHIP and HFRP or the county MississippiForestry Commission office for moreinformation about FLEP and FRDP. Thesefour programs provide cost-sharesfor forest management practices suchas prescribed fire, herbicidal controlof invasive vegetation, and forestregeneration. Wildlife Mississippi hasa longleaf pine restoration programavailable. Contact Wildlife Mississippifor more information about their longleafrestoration program.

The following agencies are available to provide wildlife and forest management planning or technical assistance forprivate landowners in Mississippi.Mississippi Department of Wildlife,Fisheries and Parkswww.mdwfp.comDave Godwin, 662.325.5119State Office, 601.432.2400Mississippi State Universitywww.cfr.msstate.eduWes Burger, 662.325.8782Rick Hamrick, 662.325.5470Mississippi State University ExtensionOfficemsucares.comwww.naturalresources.msstate.edu662.325.3176Delta Wildlife, Inc.www.deltawildlife.orgTrey Cooke, 662.686.3372Gayden Pollen, 662.686.3370Wildlife Mississippiwww.wildlifemiss.orgDaniel Coggin, 662.256.4486 (Northeast Miss.)Randy Browning, 601.264.6010 (South Miss.)Mississippi Forestry Commissionwww.mfc.state.ms.us601.359.1386Natural Resources ConservationServicewww.ms.nrcs.usda.govArea 1 (Northeast Mississippi)Biologist: John DeFazio, 662.534.7651Forester: Lynn Ellison, 662.844.2341Area 2 (Central Mississippi)Biologist: Jeffrey Lee, 601.965.4559Forester: Ramsey Russell, 601.965.4559Area 3 (South Mississippi)Biologist: Barry Pessoney, 601.296.1173Forester: James Barnes, 601.296.1173Area 4 (Delta)Biologist: Kevin Nelms, 662.453.2762Forester: Mike Oliver, 662.453.2762State OfficeBiologist: Glynda Clardy, 601.965.4339Forester: Alan Holditch, 601.965.4339Photographs courtesyof:Randy BrowningWes BurgerJim CoxScott EdwardsAndy EzellRick HamrickBobby WatkinsShane Wellendorf