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| Fall 2017 Issue - Cover Image |
Many times the most revealing habitat management advice
comes from someone who is visiting your property, inadvertently providing a
fresh look at current conditions on the ground. In the big picture, the rural
landscape in the Southeast is changing, with a distinctive lean towards pine
plantations, sometimes including hardwood conversion. Planting a hardwood tree
plot makes a commitment toward a long-term annual mast crop, and creates some piece
of mind that game animals seeking hardwood shelter won’t pass over your
habitat.
Why plant trees when the proverbial
low-hanging fruit would be more traditional agricultural plantings? That is a
tough question to answer and from my point of view the answer came after years
of tweaking management plans. I have shared with Gamekeepers before that a
trial and error should play out in whatever you are managing for, as it’s a
surefire method to find out what works and what doesn’t work.
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| Seedlings I started out in planting pots |
Having experimented in the past with
random hardwood plantings in woodland areas where I thought they would look
nice, I found out the hard way that the soil must have include a certain level
of moisture content, or else you invite failure. So the first step to
identifying a good area for a tree plot might be to work adjacent to or inside
a hardwood bottomland area. Many counties offer GIS mapping references online
now, and simply clicking on the topography link allows you to view a historical
depiction of these areas on your property.
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| Always advocating for hardwoods! |
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