Back4T

What made the wildlife population boom of the 'good ole 'days so good?  The answer is really quite simple:  What's old is new again.

In 1940, an estimated 18 million acres were being farmed.  At the end of WWII, hunters in Michigan harvested one million rooster pheasants.  By 1960, people were seeing fewer pheasants and hunters were harvesting less birds. The annual harvest reached a 50-year low in 1986 with less than 84,000 ringnecks being harvested.  Michigan's changing agricultural landscape decreased to 11 million acres. The number of family farms fell from 190,000 in 1940 to less than 60,000 by 1990.  Today that number is even less.  Although predation, genetics, and insecticides have been blamed for this decrease, experts agree that the net loss of habitat has been critical factor.

Farmlands in the 1940's and 1950's provided ideal habitat and wildlife thrived in the mixed-use farming environments.  Michigan farms of that era averaged in size between 40 and 80 acres.  Within these farm boundaries, the mixed-use farm practices allowed for improved cover and food.  Populations steadily increased for both game and non-game species.  The farms consisted of brushy fencerows, wetlands, idle grasslands, hayfields, and the common practice of crop rotation which allowed wildlife population to explode.  Today, Michigan's farmland is in decline.  Current farming practices are no longer condusive to support wildlife sustainability.  Combine this factor with the prevalent suburban sprawl and the wildlife populations have suffered the perfect storm.  Collectively, this has changed the landscape and in some cases this change is permanent.  Have you ever seen a shopping mall or apartment complex get torn down and the property returned back to idle grassland?

The small family farms of the 40's and 50's understood the necessity for maintaining good soil through the practice of proper crop rotation.  Although animal husbandry was in its infancy, they understood that growing nutritious crops decreased the failure-to-thrive syndrome that mineral- and trace-mineral-deficient feed caused their livestock.  The seeds used in the crops during this era were not genetically modified as they are today, thus providing more beneficial plant nutrition and provided additional benefit to the soil.  Crops were chosen with a particular goal in mind -- either to provide nutritional value to the livestock, or to replace particular nutrients back into the soil (referred to as the "reserved" method).  Wildlife was attracted to these highly nutritious plants.    

I am often asked the following questions:  How can I improve wildlife populations on my property?;  What should I plant?;  What is the single most important crop I can grow?  My answer is:  "What is old is new again".

This requires some explanation and the purpose of my website is to supply some of the pieces to the habitat puzzle and provide good references for you to study.  I hope to further your understanding of the relationship betweeen nutrient-rich soil, good plant choices, and a successful, diverse habitat plan.  My website will familiarize the reader with old-fashioned methods of farming for wildlife and will serve as a starting point for implementing your plan.  The result of a good habitat plan is to provide the food, cover, and space that wildlife populations need to survive and propagate.

I invite you to read past articles and try some of these simple projects on your own back forty.  Many of my customers have reported healthier wildlife on their property after incorporating my seed blends into their habitat plan.  They have commented that  the deer are larger and the offspring are larger in both number and size. Nesting success for both game and non-game birds has increased in terms of brood sizes and overall population increases. Most important to these landowners are the diverse species of plants, insects, and wildlife that are now appearing.  Many enjoy the numerous songbirds that are attracted to these natural landscapes.

Whatever your goal, I hope to help you to learn how simple and straight-forward creating wildlife habitat can be.