645 Upland Wildlife Habitat Management design_install_guide.pdf

USDA-NRCS - North Dakota FOTG - Section IV - Conservation Practices

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat Management.

Design, Installation, Check out and Documentation - 645 October 2006

DESIGN, INSTALLATION, CHECK OUT, AND DOCUMENTATION GUIDE

Upland Wildlife Habitat Management - 645

Upland Wildlife Habitat Management shall be planned and applied in accordance with the standard in the North Dakota Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG) Section IV, Conservation Practices subfolder. This document provides conservation planners with the parameters, procedures, and additional requirements for developing and applying site-specific plans for upland wildlife habitat management for a variety of species or habitat types. Where appropriate, specific references are noted or hot linked to provide detailed information needed for a successful design.

Planning alternatives for wildlife will be based on a habitat appraisal. The ND-NRCS Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Guides will be used. These guides evaluate habitat for overall wildlife species diversity and are found in FOTG Section I – Reference Subjects – Biology subsection. When a habitat appraisal for a particular wildlife species is desired, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP), or other NRCS approved methods, may be used. Contact the NRCS State biologist for the appropriate model and training as needed.

NRCS planning assistance generally involves wildlife habitat appraisal and recommendations for habitat development and management. Request assistance for direct wildlife population management from local North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD) biologists; request assistance for control of migratory birds and Threatened or Endangered Species from USDI, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) biologists.

NRCS can help landowners monitor population trends for some wildlife species. Contact the NRCS State biologist for population trend survey methods if the landowner is interested in more intensive management of these species.

NRCS shall not adversely impact a federally listed Threatened, Endangered, or Candidate species or its habitat while providing technical or financial assistance.

This document provides minimum habitat requirements for a variety of North Dakota wildlife species and for specific land uses. To satisfactorily implement this practice, the habitat requirements for the planned kind(s) of wildlife must be available or created according to a planned management system or the land use managed for general wildlife requirements.

Upland Wildlife Habitat Management is a resource management system—not a single practice. To accomplish the goals of the resource management system, a variety of NRCS practices can be employed to maintain and enhance wildlife habitat.

All land provides habitat for some wildlife species. Cropland, pastureland, woodland, and rangeland all produce and support wildlife by providing some or all of the basic habitat elements. Habitat value depends on the quality, quantity, and interspersion of food, water, cover, and living space. To provide complete habitat, all requirements for the target species must be found within its home range.

Habitat manipulation for a given species may adversely affect other wildlife species. Evaluate each planning unit, holistically, in the light of the larger landscape. Determine how management of the unit can benefit regional wildlife populations. It may not be beneficial to maximize habitat diversity on each planning unit. Ground-nesting birds, for example, often need minimum or no edge and larger blocks of uniform herbaceous nesting cover to minimize predation. Indigenous plant communities shall not be removed for this practice unless approved by an NRCS biologist.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Planning assistance may apply to two levels of wildlife habitat management. The first is for areas where wildlife production is the primary goal. The second applies to areas such as cropland, grazing land, or farmstead windbreaks where wildlife is a secondary goal.

All habitats will be planned and managed according to soil capabilities.

Each species of wildlife has a daily and seasonal home range. All of an animal’s requirements for food, shelter, water, and living space must be found within its home range. Vegetative habitat components must be interspersed to provide feeding areas near escape, nesting, and thermal cover.

The planner’s primary wildlife management tool is the manipulation of vegetative habitat components.

Use the information in this section as guidance in the evaluation of existing habitat and for planning to improve existing cover or to establish needed cover. Consideration should be given to wildlife habitat concepts including the following habitat elements: edge, ecotone, corridors, and habitat fragmentation.

Interspersion of Habitat Elements: Edge, Ecotones, Corridors and Habitat Fragmentation “Edge” refers to the interface or line where two or more vegetation or cover types meet or where structural conditions within plant communities come together. The area influenced by this transition between communities or conditions is called an “ecotone.” Edges and their ecotones are usually richer in wildlife than are the adjoining plant communities or structural conditions. As a result, they are an important consideration in the management of habitat. Examples of wildlife species that thrive along habitat edges include the white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, pheasant, and robin.

Too much habitat edge can be detrimental for some “area-sensitive” wildlife species. Predators often concentrate their activities along edges; some species avoid predation by nesting in the relative safety of larger blocks of uniform habitat. Fragmentation of large patches of habitat into small, isolated patches, characterized by an abundant edge, can modify spatial conditions or microclimate required by a given animal or plant, make a species more vulnerable to predation or nest parasitism, and split a wildlife population into isolated segments which may not be viable. Fragmentation of native grasslands has adversely impacted populations of grassland birds.

• When general wildlife habitat diversity is the goal, attempt to intersperse the edge between adjoining plant communities or structural conditions in a mosaic pattern. This will maximize edge effect.

• When establishing nest cover for waterfowl, game birds, and other ground-nesting birds, minimize edge effect by planting in large, rectangular blocks as opposed to narrow, irregularly shaped strips.

• Corridors can be used to connect wildlife habitats and reduce the impact of habitat fragmentation.

Corridors can be herbaceous, woody, or a combination of herbaceous and woody vegetation.

Herbaceous cover should be planted as a corridor to connect herbaceous habitats. The wider the corridor the more habitat it will provide. Refer to Part 614.4 Conservation Corridor Planning at the Landscape Level, National Biology Handbook for more information.

Look at the conservation-planning unit from a landscape perspective. Evaluate the unit in the context of the surrounding landscape. Obtain input from local State and Federal game management biologists to determine the effects of proposed alternatives on various species. Inform the decision-maker of the potential effects of alternatives under consideration.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Rangeland Native prairie provides many wildlife species a portion or all of their necessary life requisites. However, prairie habitats have been significantly fragmented in modern agricultural landscapes. Species dependent upon large blocks of grassland have declined since settlement. Grassland nesting birds have shown steep and more consistent declines than any other bird group in North America (Knopf 1994).

• Use conservation practices 528 - Prescribed Grazing, 472 - Use Exclusion and/or 338 - Prescribed Burning to provide high quality grass and riparian habitat. Grazing systems need to be designed to provide residual cover in order to be attractive to grassland nesting birds.

• Planting woody cover on native prairie requires prior review and approval by a NRCS biologist. If woody species are desired, plant native shrubs in areas that would mimic natural habitat such as woody draws. Rangeland shall not be converted to a shelterbelt type planting to provide winter cover for resident wildlife species.

• See the appropriate Ecological Site Descriptions (ESD) in FOTG Section II – Ecological Site Descriptions subfolder for guidance on habitat manipulation. Also review the Plant Communities and Transitional Pathways diagram to determine potential changes in vegetative community due to planned manipulations.

• Native grass or forb species should be used for any land use changes being planned adjacent to rangeland. See appropriate ESD for species to be planted on the site.

Introduced Grasses and Legumes

• This group includes tame grasses and legumes such as tall wheatgrass, intermediate and pubescent wheatgrass, alfalfa, white and red clover, birdsfoot trefoil, and sweetclover. Avoid using any species considered invasive in North Dakota or at the county level. Native grass or forb species should be used in new plantings being planned adjacent to rangeland. See appropriate ESD for species to be planted on the site.

1. When planted and managed specifically for wildlife, tame species have the potential to produce large numbers of some ground-nesting species.

• Block plantings of at least 40 acres are recommended to reduce nest predation by red fox, skunks, badgers, raccoons, and other predators. Consider herbaceous wildlife plantings for cropped areas that are not profitable or a nuisance to farm such as low-yielding soils, irregular lobes or wedges, and small fields.

• Non-rhizomatous, stiff-stemmed forms of alfalfa, such as Vernal, are preferable to new and improved hay-type varieties.

• Plantings for wildlife will include mixtures of grasses and legumes/forbs that provide tall standing residue, at least 15 inches, in the fall. This cover will be maintained over winter to provide at least eight inches (where soils will support) of standing nesting cover the following April. Methods for establishing tame grasses and legumes are found in conservation practice 512 - Pasture and Hayland Planting.

• Periodic management is necessary to maintain the quality of tame grass cover mixtures. Grazing, mowing, burning, or light discing may be used as appropriate. Avoid treating the entire area that is managed for wildlife at one time. Treating 25 percent of the cover per year is adequate.

• Preferred plant materials for upland wildlife cover include:

• Grasses: Tall, intermediate, and pubescent wheatgrass

• Legumes/Forbs: Alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, white or yellow sweetclover

• Recommended Dense Nesting Cover Seed Mixture:

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

• Tall wheatgrass at 6.1lbs. PLS/acre

• Intermediate or Pubescent wheatgrass at 2.5 lbs. PLS/acre

• Alfalfa at 1.3 lbs. PLS/acre

• White or yellow sweetclover at 0.5 lbs. PLS/acre.

On steep slopes (greater than 6.0 percent), tall wheatgrass and intermediate/pubescent wheatgrass seeding rates may be interchanged.

2. Management of tame pasture and hayland can include considerations for wildlife to achieve multiple uses. Following are suggestions for meeting wildlife habitat quality criteria on tame species seedings:

• Delay haying on at least part of the fields until after the peak of the nesting season (after July 15).

Select species that mature later in the growing season, allowing grassland-nesting birds to fledge before the first cutting operation.

• Avoid cutting hay by mowing around the field. Instead, mow back and forth from one end of the field to the other or mow from the inside of the field to the outside. Consider using a flushing bar on swathers and mowers.

• Establish permanent field borders.

Planted Native Herbaceous Cover Native plant materials are adapted to the local soils and climate and may persist longer than their non-native counterparts. Natives may take longer to establish from seed than introduced species, but generally require less maintenance over time. Consider native seedings on cropped areas that are not profitable or a nuisance to farm such as low-yielding soils, irregular lobes or wedges.

• Establishing native herbaceous plants will be completed in accordance with conservation practice

550 - Range Planting or 643 – Restoration and Management of Rare or Declining Habitats.

• Attempt to establish a diversity of species and life forms including bunchgrasses, sod-forming grasses, forbs, and where appropriate, shrubs. Include warm-season and cool-season species, when possible. Avoid tall shrubs and trees to benefit grassland-nesting birds. If tall shrubs are planted keep the shrubs on the outside perimeter to avoid fragmenting the herbaceous cover.

• Periodic management using grazing or fire may be necessary to maintain stand productivity and palatability for wildlife.

• Grazing management is critical to maintaining wildlife cover and food values. Deer may tend to avoid the pasture currently being grazed, but often make heavy use of fresh regrowth soon after the livestock are moved. Conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing should be used to maintain high quality, vigorous grasses and forbs that provide residual cover over winter.

• Plantings for wildlife will include mixtures of native grasses and legumes/forbs that provide tall, standing residue. This cover will be maintained over winter to provide at least eight inches of standing nesting cover the following April. Methods for establishing native grasses and forbs are found in conservation practice 550 - Range Planting. Following are examples of native seed mixtures for wildlife (see Herbaceous Vegetation Establishment Guide located in FOTG Section I - Reference Subjects - Plant Materials). Additional planting mixes can be developed using conservation practice 550 – Range Planting:

• Saline soils: 30 percent Shoshone beardless wildrye, 20 percent slender wheatgrass, 10 percent blue grama, 30 percent western wheatgrass, 10 percent alsike clover, or four-wing saltbush

• Wet and subirrigated soils: 25 percent big bluestem, 25 percent Indian grass, 15 percent western wheatgrass, 25 percent switchgrass, 10 percent Maximilian sunflower

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

• Loamy and silty soils: 30 percent green needlegrass, 15 percent slender wheatgrass, 25 percent western wheatgrass, 20 percent sideoats grama, 10 percent adapted forb or legume

• Sandy soils: 15 percent western wheatgrass, 25 percent prairie sandreed, 25 percent sand bluestem, 25 percent sideoats grama, 10 percent adapted forb or legume

• Sands soils: 15 percent western wheatgrass, 20 percent green needlegrass, 30 percent sand bluestem, 25 percent sideoats grama, 10 percent adapted forb or legume

• Overflow and run-on soils: 25 percent big bluestem, 20 percent green needlegrass, 20 percent sideoats grama, 25 percent switchgrass, 10 percent Maximilian sunflower

• Thin upland and shallow soils: 20 percent blue grama, 25 percent little bluestem, 30 percent sideoats grama, 15 percent prairie sandreed, 10 percent adapted forb or legume.

• Wetland soils: Temporary zone: 30 percent prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), 10 percent fowl bluegrass (Poa palustris), 20 percent western sloughgrass (Beckmannia syzigachne), 10 percent fox sedge (Carex vulpinoides), 10 percent Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis) 15 percent switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), 5 percent forbs (swamp verbena (Verbena hastata), etc.). Seasonal Zone: 40 percent whitetop (Scolochloa festucacea), 30 percent slough sedge (Carex atherodes), 10 percent western sloughgrass (Beckmannia syzigachne), 20 percent American mannagrass (Glyceria grandis).

Planted Woody Cover Deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs provide thermal, reproductive, and escape cover for many wildlife species as well as food in the form of seeds, fruits, nuts, buds, catkins, twigs, and leaves. Woody plantings for wildlife diversity should contain a variety of forms, heights, and flowering/fruiting phenology.

They should provide dense areas (thickets) of suckering shrubs or conifers, especially spruce and juniper for winter thermal protection. Select shrubs over trees to provide dense cover at the surface, especially when winter cover is desired.

• Opportunities exist for planting shrubs for wildlife in and around cropland. American plum thickets, for example, can be planted in odd areas between fields. Field windbreaks add habitat diversity to cropland monoculture. Use at least two rows of shrubs in field windbreaks to better accommodate wildlife.

• Woody plantings should be avoided inside and within 150 feet of large blocks of grassland. Woody plantings in these landscape settings contribute to habitat fragmentation by creating additional edge. Most grassland birds are edge-sensitive. The addition of more edge has a negative impact on their breeding ecology and introduces more nest parasitism.

• Woody plantings will be installed in a manner consistent with conservation practice 380 - Windbreak/ Shelterbelt Establishment or 652 – Woodland Direct Seeding. Use tree and shrub species recommended for the desired wildlife species. Refer to the document titled “Tree and Shrub Characteristics” in FOTG Section I - Reference Subjects - Windbreaks and Woodland subfolder, for recommended wildlife trees and shrubs and individual species information. For adaptation of woody plants to specific soils and climate, refer to the FOTG Section II - Windbreaks and Forest - Windbreak Suitability Groups subfolder, by county.

• Improve or renovate decadent woody plantings in a manner consistent with 650 - Windbreak/Shelterbelt Renovation.

• Woody plantings shall consist of three or more rows or a random design equivalent to three rows.

Winter cover plantings should be a minimum of 15 rows.

• The windward row must contain shrubs, juniper or spruce to provide a dense barrier from the ground level to the entire plant height.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

• The leeward row shall be juniper or shrub species. Fruit-bearing shrubs should be used to provide a winter food source.

• Between-row spacing shall not exceed 16 feet.

• Within-row spacing: shrubs 3 - 6 ft., conifers 6 - 12 ft., trees 6 - 16 ft.

• At least 25 % of the planting should be suckering shrubs.

• Avoid installing synthetic weed barrier on suckering shrubs, or remove within three to five years after planting.

• Planting woody cover on native prairie requires prior review and approval by a NRCS biologist. If woody species are desired, plant native shrubs in areas that would mimic natural habitat such as woody draws. Rangeland shall not be converted to a shelterbelt-type planting to provide winter cover for resident wildlife species.

• Establish a snow trap 50-200 feet upwind to prevent snow from covering the food sources and shelter areas. Trees and shrubs are preferable however tall grasses or standing corn can also be used.

• Establish a secondary windbreak to protect food and cover from storms from the south or east.

• Connect isolated woody plantings with travel corridors by extending windbreaks for the additional distance or by installing a 422 - Hedgerow Planting (located in FOTG Section IV – Conservation Practices) between the windbreaks.

• Orient the woody planting east and west when possible to provide a sheltered southern exposure for increased winter thermal cover.

• Tall trees, which provide raptor perching and hunting sites, should not be used near herbaceous wetland wildlife habitat.

• Connect grassland habitats with herbaceous corridors instead of woody corridors.

Grain and Seed Crops Preferred grain and seed crops include, but are not limited to, corn, wheat, barley, oats, millet, sorghum, sunflowers, lentils and winter wheat. Soybeans, buckwheat, flax, rye, and sudangrass, may also be used as food plots but are less preferred by most wildlife species.

• When planted specifically for wildlife, these crops can provide food with limited nesting, roosting, and winter cover.

• Food plots will be at least one-half acre in size and should not exceed 5 acres in size. One pheasant needs approximately 1 bushel of corn for a 5-month winter feeding period. One deer needs approximately 8 bushels. Within these two extremes design food plot size according to known or anticipated wildlife populations.

• Food plots will be located adjacent to or less than one-quarter mile from winter cover,

• Select food plot species and varieties that are lodge-resistant and relatively resistant to shelling, where snow accumulations are significant.

• Following are suggested annual crop species seeding rates and dates. Corn, sunflowers and millet usually provide available food source above the snow. Consider stacking small grains to provide available food during heavy snow periods.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

CROP RATE DATE*

Corn 12,000-18,000 plants/acre May 20 Sunflowers (oil type) 12,000-18,00 plants/acre row crop June 5 4-6 lbs. /acre solid-seeded Soybeans 56 pounds/acre row crop June 10 Millet (Proso) 15-30 pounds/acre June 25 Sorghum (Grain) 15-30 lbs. /acre solid-seeded May 25 Barley 60-90 lbs. /acre May 31 Buckwheat 50-60 lbs. /acre May 20 Flax 35 lbs. /acre June 10 Oats 50-80 lbs. /acre May 31 Rye 60-90 lbs. /acre September 30 Wheat 60-90 lbs. /acre May 31 Sudangrass 15-30 lbs. /acre solid-seeded May 20 Lentil 40 - 70 lbs. May 20 Winter Peas 100 - 180 lbs. /acre May 20 *Planting dates will vary with location, the crop variety and weather conditions.

Consideration should be given to establishing perennial food plots. Only those sites that are relatively free of weeds and invasive species (both plants and seed bank) are suitable for planting a perennial food plot. Vigilance and timely control of weeds prior to and during the establishment period is required. Sites with weed problems should be maintained weed-free for at least two years prior to planting. Utilizing glyphosate-tolerant corn as an annual food plot is suggested to allow aggressive weed control.

For perennial food plots, select species that are compatible with the soil. A diverse mixture of native grasses and forbs is recommended. Do not exceed 25% grasses by seed count in the mixture. For seed count information, refer to the Herbaceous Vegetation Establishment Guide found in FOTG Section I - Reference Subjects - Plant Materials subsection.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

A suggested perennial food plot seed mix is listed below. Note the forb seeding rate is double the percent seed count number, to compensate for less aggressive performance observed in the field.

Suggested Seed Mix for Perennial Food Plots in ND

Species Variety Percent Rate PLS LB/AC Grasses sideoats grama Pierre or Killdeer 5 0.375 blue grama Bad River 5 0.125 switchgrass Dacotah 5 0.225 Canada wildrye Mandan 5 0.375 green needlegrass Lodorm 5 0.375 subtotal 25

Forbs (lb./acre rate shown is doubled from percent seed count shown) blanket flower northern 5 0.7 black-eyed susan northern 5 0.08 blue flax Appar 10 0.76 yellow coneflower Stillwater 5 0.15 purple prairieclover Bismarck or northern 15 1.14 white prairieclover Antelope or northern 15 1.17 Canada milkvetch northern 10 0.8 Maximilian sunflower Medicine Creek 5 0.1 stiff sunflower Bismarck 5 1.28 subtotal 75 Total 100

If pesticides are used read and follow the pesticide label for application rates, authorized use information and Federal, State or local restrictions.

• Where wildlife is a secondary land use, grain and seed crops can provide food and cover for some species. A ND-NRCS Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Guide rating of 0.5 or higher is required for this practice. If food plots are not planted, waste grain is essential to many wildlife species during fall and winter. No-till fields have some early nest mortality due to machinery, but probably have a high success rate for later/second nests. To provide wildlife habitat on cropland:

• Apply no-till or minimize tillage to the extent practical. Leave stubble standing or nearly upright and at least ten inches high over winter to increase available food for resident wildlife species.

• Include winter wheat or winter rye in the rotation where feasible.

• Leave strips of unharvested crop adjacent to winter cover.

• Avoid fallow, if possible. If fallow is applied, substitute herbicides for tillage before July 31 to save bird nests as well as soil moisture.

• Install and manage Field Borders, conservation practice code 386, for wildlife.

• Implement contour strip cropping.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Native Shrublands Important wildlife shrubs include big sagebrush, silver buffaloberry, serviceberry, chokecherry, hawthorn, western snowberry, sandbar willow, and many others. The acreage of big sagebrush-grassland has decreased in North Dakota due to conversion to cropland, and brush control. Sage grouse, Brewer’s sparrow, pronghorn antelope, and other species are dependent on this habitat.

• Brush control for improved wildlife habitat should only be done after review from an NRCS biologist.

• Brush control for increased forage production needs to be planned with wildlife habitat impacts in mind.

• Conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing will be applied in a manner that benefits native upland and riparian shrub communities and declining, indigenous wildlife species.

Native Forestland

• Forestland represents a potentially significant source of income for private landowners as well as habitat for many wildlife species. These values are compatible if total resource planning is combined with proper management. Consider forest plantings on former forest areas being cropped that are not profitable to farm due to low yield, irregular or wedge shape or small size.

• Uneven-aged, mixed-species forests maximize habitat diversity for the greatest number of wildlife species. Selective harvest methods can maintain this diversity.

• Lack of forest management can result in low habitat diversity, although dense stands of timber may be valuable for big game hiding cover. Some wildlife species, such as the goshawk and chickadee depend on relatively old-growth forestland.

• Young, even-aged conifer stands provide important hiding cover for big game and other wildlife. Such stands can be provided throughout a timber harvest rotation.

• Large, uniform conifer forests may be improved for wildlife by creating small, irregularly shaped openings.

• Over-mature trees, snags, and downed logs provide important habitat for cavity nesting birds, raptors, and a variety of mammals. Cavity nesting birds, such as woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches and others help control forest insects.

• Conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing will be applied in a manner that benefits native plant communities and declining, indigenous wildlife species in the long-term. Livestock will be managed in a manner that does not damage native trees and shrubs by excessive browsing or rubbing. The timing and duration of grazing will be such that hoof action will not increase soil compaction or result in root or root crown damage. Avoid grazing under wet soil conditions as damage to woody plants can happen quickly with long lasting effects.

Wetland Plants Herbaceous and woody plants adapted to moist or wet sites provide valuable habitat for many upland wildlife species. Cattails, bulrushes, sedges, and willows provide important winter cover for pheasants, white-tailed deer, and other upland wildlife.

• Any wetland manipulation for upland wildlife must be done after careful consideration to impacts to wetland-dependent species. See Conservation Practice 644—Wetland Wildlife Management for more information.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) General Habitat Requirements

The average home range for pheasants includes an area within approximately 2 square miles. All habitat requirements must be provided within the home range.

• Optimum pheasant habitat consists of 5 - 10 percent undisturbed cover in a combination of the following cover types:

- Dense nesting cover, or other idle lands with grass-legume mixtures

- Patches of sweetclover, sunflower, or other seed-producing forbs

• 10 - 20 percent grasslands consisting of:

- Wetlands with tall, emergent vegetation

- Hayland, pastureland, road right of ways, unharvested until after August 1

• 5 percent woody cover consisting of:

- Brushy draws

- Shelterbelts with species such as American plum, chokecherry, snowberry, silver buffaloberry, rose, juneberry, and juniper

• In addition, 60 to 85 percent of the land is annually cropped with:

- 60-85 percent in cereal grains with stubble retained through the winter, unharvested strips or food plots left adjacent to uncultivated areas

• The diversity and interspersion of cover types is the key to pheasant survival. The more cover types within an area, the greater the habitat values. Places where three or more cover types come together are especially valuable because many habitat needs are provided within a small area. Irregular borders between cover types increase the amount of edge available, which supplies more of the pheasant’s habitat requirements.

Nesting Cover

• Nesting cover consists of undisturbed grass-legume mixtures, hay fields where mowing is delayed until after July 15, or winter wheat. Since pheasants initiate nesting in early spring, residual grass cover is essential to conceal nests prior to spring green-up and growth.

• Nesting cover should be no further than 1.5 miles from winter cover.

• Nesting cover seedings should be established in blocks, as opposed to narrow, linear configurations to reduce nest/hen predation and should be at least 40 acres in size. Except where site conditions are limiting, use at least two species of grass—sod-former plus bunchgrass—and one forb or legume species.

• Occasional mowing, grazing, burning, disking or chiseling may be required to maintain the productivity of pheasant nest cover. These treatments should not occur on the entire area being managed for nesting cover. Limit disturbance to no more than 25 percent of the area. If possible avoid disturbance during the peak nesting period from April 15 to August 1. Avoiding nesting cover disturbance during this period is one of the most important and simplest actions a landowner can take to benefit pheasant and other ground-nesting bird populations. Loss of cover at this time results in hen pheasants abandoning their nests, forcing them to re-nest in other types of habitats.

Species recommended for nesting cover are included in the Introduced Grasses and Legumes or the Planted Native Herbaceous Cover section of this specification.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Winter and Roosting Cover

Winter cover consists of cattail marshes, tall grass/legume mixtures, woody draws, riparian areas and multi-row shelterbelts. Tall shrubs and trees buffered by a sufficient width of tall vegetation provide snow-free cover during severe storms. Tall grain stubble and weedy patches are marginal winter cover.

Winter thermal cover is likely the most limiting factor for North Dakota pheasant populations. It consists of shrubs, shrub and tree combinations or tall herbaceous cover such as emergent aquatic vegetation, sweetclover or annual weeds.

• Windbreaks that are established for winter cover will be established as per guidance found in Planted Woody Cover section of this specification. Herbaceous seedings established for winter cover will be at least 5 acres in size and located adjacent to other winter cover. Herbaceous winter cover plantings will be established as per guidance found in Introduced Grasses and Legumes or Planted Native Cover section of this specification.

• Winter cover must be protected from mowing, grazing, fire, etc. until spring.

• Roosting cover is fairly open to allow escape from predators—tall grain stubble, grass-legume stands, and marsh vegetation are examples.

• Roosting and loafing cover consists of tall - at least ten inches - dense herbaceous plant residues.

Standing stubble, standing grain, cattail marshes, tall grass-legume mixtures, and tall weedy patches are examples.

• Use conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing and/or 472 - Use Exclusion to provide high condition riparian habitat.

Food

• Food requirements for adult pheasants consist primarily of grains, weed seeds, insects, and succulent green plants; young birds rely heavily on insects throughout the summer following hatching. Barley, corn, sorghum, and, to a lesser extent, wheat are preferred foods. Sunflower, soybeans, peas, dry beans, canola, millet, and a variety of annual weed seeds are also eaten. Waste grain and food plots that are protected from snow cover are critical food sources in winter. Persistent fruits of shrubs, listed above, supply survival food during harsh weather.

• Avoid fall tillage of grain stubble.

• Food plots and unharvested grain strips will be no farther than one-quarter mile from winter cover but preferably within or immediately adjacent to winter cover. Plant food plots as outlined in the Grain and Seed Crops section of the specification.

• Avoid use of insecticides in areas where pheasant broods are present.

Water

• Water is essential for survival, but is usually not limiting to pheasant populations because it is available from dew, succulent fruits, green vegetation, and insects. Shallow water areas are beneficial to pheasant habitat.

Habitat Management

• Develop large blocks of undisturbed nesting cover.

• Provide for large woody blocks (natural or planted) for winter cover.

• Provide winter food protected from drifting snow and located adjacent to winter cover.

• Let strips along fencerows, ditchbanks, roadsides, and field corners revert to natural cover.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

• Cut hay at slower speeds in a back-and-forth pattern or center-to-outside pattern. Install flusher bars on mowers to reduce hen mortality.

• Cut hay fields with highest nest densities last, after the peak of the nesting season.

• Avoid fall tillage of grain stubble and implement conservation tillage.

• Seed ditch banks and roadsides to perennial grasses and legumes.

• Implement 528 - Prescribed Grazing to maintain grazing land as quality cover.

• Apply diverse crop rotations with legumes.

• Seed marginal cropland to perennial grasses and legumes.

For more information on management of habitat for grassland nesting birds see Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management Leaflet Number 10 Ring-necked Pheasant at ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WHMI/WEB/pdf/RINGNECKphea1.pdf.

Gray (Hungarian) Partridge (Perdix perdix) General Habitat Requirements

One of the smallest gamebirds, the gray partridge occupies a very limited home range. All habitat requirements must be found within an area of about one-fourth to one square mile. Duplicating cover and food requirements once for each 40 acres of land will provide highest populations. Cover is often the limiting factor for gray partridge in an agricultural landscape. Idle areas, such as fencerows, abandoned farmsteads, ditch banks, and other “odd areas” are critical for nesting, roosting, escape, hiding, and winter cover. Brushy areas and shelterbelts are used throughout the year, most often during winter. The size of the cover patch is less important than the lack of disturbance from cultivation, grazing, pesticide spraying, etc. Interspersion of cover patches in a mosaic pattern within agricultural landscapes increases habitat value. Intensive agriculture and heavy grazing reduces cover needed by gray partridge.

Optimum gray partridge habitat consists of

• 5 - 10 percent undisturbed cover in a combination of the following cover types:

- Dense nesting cover or other idle lands with grass-legume mixtures

- Weedy patches of sweet clover, sunflower, and other seed-producing forbs

• 20 - 40 percent grasslands consisting of:

− Wetlands with tall, emergent vegetation − Hayland harvested after July 15, pastureland, road right of ways, etc.

• 1 - 5 percent woody cover consisting of:

- Shelterbelts with species such as American plum, chokecherry, snowberry, silver buffaloberry, rose, serviceberry, and juniper

- Brushy draws

• 45 to 70 percent of the land is cropped with:

50 - 80 percent in cereal grains with stubble retained through the winter and unharvested strips or food plots left adjacent to permanent cover.

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WHMI/WEB/pdf/RINGNECKphea1.pdf

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Nesting Cover

• Maintain medium height herbaceous vegetation of high or medium density such as fencerows, field borders, and other odd areas in an undisturbed condition during the nesting season (May 1 to July 15).

Residual plant material from the previous year is critical cover for birds nesting early in the growing season.

• Implement grazing management that provides residual herbaceous cover on rangelands during the early nesting season.

Winter Cover

• Maintain shrub thickets, windbreaks or other snow-free areas of tall herbaceous vegetation such as emergent aquatics, sweetclover, and annual weeds. These areas may be quite small in size less than 5 acres. Avoid fall tillage of crop stubble.

• On grazing land, conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing should be used to maintain high quality, vigorous grasses and forbs that provide residual cover over winter. Implement grazing systems that maintain or improve cover in riparian areas and woody draws.

Food Supply

• Waste grain and weed seeds are the primary food items year-round. Succulent green plant parts are used during the growing season. Insects such as ants, ant eggs, grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles are critical for chick survival, especially during the first three weeks after hatching. Certain weed seeds, like knotweed, contain high levels of some nutrients compared to waste grain, and may be necessary for a balanced diet. Winter wheat appears to be preferred over spring grains.

• Postpone pesticide spraying until late July to maintain adequate food resources for recently hatched gray partridge. Implement Integrated Pest Management to minimize pesticide use.

• Avoid fall tillage of crop stubble.

• Provide food sources - waste grain, weed seeds - adjacent to winter cover. Plant food plots as outlined in the Grain and Seed Crops section of the specification.

Water

• Water availability does not limit gray partridge populations. Consuming green vegetation and insects can satisfy water requirements.

Sharp-Tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus)

Seasonal range of the majority of yearly sharptail activities occurs within a one-mile radius of the spring breeding ground (lek). However, the seasonal range can be up to 4 square miles

• Preferred sharptail habitat is high condition native rangeland occupying 60- 90 percent of the sharptail range with interspersed woody cover with a high proportion shrubs such as brush-filled draws, 10 - 40 percent. Quality habitat is a mix of mid and tall grasses, associated shrubs, and a scattering of cropland. Habitat quantity is important but it is usually the quality of nesting and brood-rearing cover that limits grouse populations. Sharptails adapt to modern agriculture within limits. Although cropland is not required, during winter they readily feed on grain in stubble and in feed yards and will use crop fields for loafing cover.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

• Since sharp-tails occupy a diversity of plant communities, species composition is not necessarily a prime factor in measuring quality of grouse habitat. The height and density of vegetation present are more important factors in determining habitat quality. Sharptails prefer less dense vegetation than ring-necked pheasant.

• Sharp-tail diets may include over 300 food items, but the majority of food consists of less than a dozen plant species. Use of grain crops is greatest during fall and winter. Other winter foods include buds, seeds, and persistent fruits. Adult grouse are primarily vegetarians consuming buds, leaves and flowers of succulent plants, dry seeds, and fleshy fruits. Examples include prickly lettuce and dandelion greens, silver buffaloberry and snowberry fruits, and a variety of grass and weed seeds.

Insects are critical to chicks for several weeks following hatching and are taken by adults during summer and early fall.

• Winter cover requirements center around woody/shrubby areas. Species of brush are less important than condition. Woody draws and shelterbelts are critical as winter cover.

• Sharp-tails require high condition grasslands and shrublands with residual grass cover from previous years for successful nesting. Most nests are found within a one-half mile radius of the spring breeding ground.

• Sharp-tails can obtain adequate water from fruits, green vegetation, and insects. Free water is not a limiting factor for grouse populations.

Nesting Cover

Nesting cover consists of residual and/or growing herbaceous plant material at least eight inches tall in blocks of at least 60 acres.

Grazing management is the key to improvement and maintenance of sharptail habitat. Conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing will be implemented to ensure adequate residual spring cover for nesting birds on grazing land.

Winter Cover Conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing will ensure that woody vegetation in draws, shelterbelts, and other areas is represented by a variety of size and age classes so that winter cover and food sources are available to sharptails.

Windbreaks that are established for winter cover will be established as per guidance found in Planted Woody Cover of this specification. Include species beneficial to sharptails such as silver buffaloberry, American plum, rose, chokecherry, hawthorn, sumac, Rocky Mountain juniper, western snowberry, juneberry and blue spruce. These species will not only offer winter thermal cover but also fall and winter food sources.

Food

Perennial food plots can include any of the woody species listed above. Annual food plots will be at least one-half acre in size and located within one-quarter mile of winter cover. Plant food plots as outlined in the Grain and Seed Crops section of the specification.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Grassland Nesting Birds Loss of grassland has had a significant, negative impact on grassland nesting bird habitat.

Fragmentation of native prairie caused by the introduction of woody tree plantings also has a negative impact on grassland nesting birds. Species dependent upon large blocks of grassland, such as grassland nesting birds, have shown steep and more consistent declines than any other bird group in North America (Knopf 1994). These birds are dependent on large contiguous tracts of herbaceous cover. The planting of herbaceous cover through programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program has provided much needed grassland habitat.

• Avoid introducing trees and shrubs into habitats that cause further inappropriate fragmentation of the grassland habitat.

• If woody habitat is being planted to benefit other species, locate the planting on the edge of the herbaceous habitat. Select short shrub species such as rose or snowberry.

• Implement conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing to maintain or improve grassland habitat on grazing land. Residual vegetation provides nest cover for most grassland nesting birds.

Overgrazing benefits a limited number of grassland nesting birds.

• Grass plantings can be introduced or native grasses. Adjacent to native prairie, only native species should be planted. Use species as outlined in Introduced Grasses and Legumes or Planted Native Herbaceous Cover of this specification.

• Grass and forbs seeds and insects provide food.

For more information on management of habitat for grassland nesting birds see Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management Leaflet Number 8 Grassland Birds ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WHMI/WEB/pdf/GRASS1.pdf.

Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) General Habitat Requirements

The spring strutting ground, or lek, is the center of sage grouse activities. Most nesting and brood rearing occur within two miles of a lek. Some grouse populations migrate considerable distances from breeding and summering areas to suitable winter habitat. Other populations are sedentary, remaining near the lek year-round.

Sage grouse are sagebrush-grassland obligates; they must have sagebrush as a year-round habitat component. Sagebrush-grassland component should occupy 80 - 100 percent of the sage grouse range.

0 - 20 percent of the sage grouse range could be forage crops such as alfalfa. Optimum habitat consists of extensive stands of big sagebrush (artemisia tridentata) or silver sage (artemisia cana) in combination with vigorous grass and forb communities. Most sage grouse activities throughout the year occur in stands ranging from 20 to 30 percent sagebrush canopy cover. Wet meadows, streamside areas, and forb-dominated openings are critical habitat components from spring through late summer.

Nest cover consists of sagebrush stands with a canopy cover of 20 to 40 percent. Sage grouse hens usually select the tallest sagebrush plants as a nest location. Research has shown that hens nesting under a sagebrush plant have a 50 percent chance of success while hens nesting under other plants have only a 20 percent chance. The herbaceous understory is equally important to successful nesting.

The chance of success may increase by 30 percent if the sagebrush nest site also has grass-forb residual cover at least eight inches tall. Sage grouse broods often feed in moist meadows and areas with lower sagebrush canopy cover and rest in stands with higher canopy cover.

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WHMI/WEB/pdf/GRASS1.pdf

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Winter cover consists of sagebrush stands of varying heights and canopy coverage's. Sage canopy cover of at least 20 percent is required.

Unlike other North Dakota game bird species, sage grouse do not have a muscular gizzard to grind seeds. Their diet is limited to soft foods. Sagebrush leaves are essentially the only food consumed from October through April. In May through September, the diet is dominated by succulent forb leaves and insects. Important forb species include dandelion, salsify, clover, sweetclover, alfalfa, prickly lettuce, yarrow, and milkvetch. Insects are critical for sage grouse chicks for several weeks after hatching.

Commonly consumed insects include grasshoppers, beetles, and ants. Sagebrush leaves are still an important food item throughout the spring and summer.

COVER

Conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing will be implemented to maintain vigorous sagebrush and herbaceous plant communities and to provide residual grass cover in sage grouse habitat.

Brush control projects commonly have a detrimental effect on sage grouse habitat. Technical and/or financial assistance for brush control in sage grouse habitat shall adhere to the following guidelines:

• Obtain information about locations of leks, winter habitat, etc. from all available sources.

• No brush control work will be considered where live sagebrush cover is less than 20 percent, or on steep (20 percent or more) upper slopes with skeletal soils where big sagebrush is 12 inches or less in height.

• Brush control within two miles of a lek or within known sage grouse winter habitat will be done only under a conservation plan developed with input from NRCS State biologist.

• No brush control will be done along streams, meadows, secondary drainages, aspen stands, or willow thickets. A strip of living sagebrush, at least 150 yards wide, will be retained along each edge of meadows and drainages.

• When brush control projects are implemented, all treatment measures will be applied in irregular patterns using topography and other habitat considerations to minimize adverse effects to sage grouse.

• When herbicides are used, spraying will be done with a helicopter or ground rig. No spraying will be done when wind velocity exceeds six miles per hour. Diesel carriers will not be used.

• Avoid complete kill of the treated sagebrush stand whenever possible. Prescribed fire and low rates of Tebuthiuron are examples of ways to achieve a partial kill.

Food

• Avoid use of insecticides in sage grouse brood habitat.

• Include forbs in range seedings implemented within or near sage grouse habitat. Important forbs include alfalfa, sainfoin, sweet clover, birdsfoot trefoil, and rabbitbrush.

• Winter food is exclusively sagebrush.

• Implement conservation practice 528 - Prescribed Grazing to improve or maintain range condition and to enhance the forb component.

NOTE: Underlined items are required for meeting the FOTG Practice Standard 645-Upland Wildlife Habitat

Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) General Habitat Requirements

Optimum ruffed grouse habitat consists of fairly dense cover of mixed deciduous trees and shrubs.

Aspen forests in North Dakota hold the majority of ruffed grouse…