We can solve conservation problems, but we need to do more than simply preserving natural areas and leaving them alone. Unmanaged natural areas can provide acceptable habitat, but usually far from optimal. There’s a few reasons for that: 1. land use change and development has so altered the landscape that we need to actively work to represent a diversity of habitats in conserved areas. 2. Natural processes like fire, grazing from native herbivores, and predation by apex predators, which interacted to shape vegetation diversity, are usually absent. 3. Invasive species can dramatically reduce the habitat value of an area 4. A lot of our forests were harvested 80 to 100 years ago, and we now have relatively even-aged stands that lack age and structural diversity needed to support a diversity of wildlife. Despite all this, we have the knowledge and ability to manage natural areas to support greater biodiversity and abundance. It often involves targeted disturbance. Warning some of these may surprise you: -Strategic timber harvest to create structural and species diversity and establish forest understory. -Herbicide for invasive and undesirable plants, -Prescribed fire to maintain open grassland areas, -Timed disking to stimulate wildflowers, and/or -Targeted grazing to mimic historical herbivory and reduce grass dominance. Determining how to apply these tools can take a lot of nuance and should be done with forethought, but they can make dramatic improvements for some of our most declining wildlife species.

Rapid tree id by flower timing. Black Locust blooms are winding down now on the Eastern Shore.

Right = habitat Left ≠ habitat

Always fun when you see these little dinosaurs show up in your back yard.

Was great meeting one of the foremost quail experts in the country: Dr. Dale Rollins. Session 1 of Quailmasters at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch is wrapped up. 3 to go in South Texas east Texas and the panhandle.

About to start Quailmasters course at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch. Excited to expand my knowledge about Texas quail management.

How to avoid tick bites: Insect repellent on boots, socks and pant legs and around waist (I prefer Picardin but DEET works too) Permethrin applied to field clothes annually (Sawyer only brand I know labeled for this). If I do these, I don’t get tick bites. Showering as soon as you can after getting out of the field also shown to significantly reduce bites.

Nooo! The closest confirmed positive CWD is in PA, ~100 miles away. How you think it may have gotten to central Delaware? Any chance this could be a false positive?

Waterfowl Hunting Lease Opportunity at Point Pleasant Farm – Talbot County, MD docs.google.com/document/d/1…

Two more native trees —both great for wildlife—that you can identify from their showy flowers this time of year. 1. Black cherry (first 2 pics) 2. Flowering dogwood (last 2 pics)

“Our suicidal poets (Plath, Berryman, Lowell, Jarrell, et al.) spent too much of their lives inside rooms and classrooms when they should have been trudging up mountains… rowing down rivers. The indoor life is the next best thing to premature burial.” — Edward Abbey

What native plants are great for birds and deer? We are testing five native species to see how well they perform for both deer and bobwhite quail habitat. We planted ragweed, New England aster, panicled tick trefoil, showy tick trefoil, and Maximilian sunflower. So far the Maximillion sunflower is showing a clear forging preference by deer. Last year we also saw a strong preference for ragweed but it hasn’t emerged yet this spring. The two ticktrefoils (desmodiums) and New England aster have not yet established well enough to see a difference. I will continue to update on this study as the season progresses!

Happy Easter! 🐇🥚🐣

How you can quickly identify trees from a distance during spring leaf out. I cover maples, red oaks, white oaks, beeches, and tulip poplars in this video

Timber harvests are one of the best things we can do to enhance wildlife diversity and abundance across much of the Eastern US landscape. But harvests have been declining for years in many areas. Why? For one thing, here’s the paperwork we have to sift through in Maryland to get one approved.

Japanese stiltgrass is one of the worst invasives I see around. I’ve tried everything over the years. This year, I decided to test three different pre-emergent herbicides. You can see the plots for yourself in the video. Initial results from best to worst are: 1) Pendimethalin, brand name Prowl H2O, seems to have the best control at this time. 2) Prodiamine looks to have about 90% control, but I see small pockets of germination. 3) Plateau, brand name imazapic. Least amount of control—does not seem effective at all as a pre-emergent option for Japanese stiltgrass.

Heres how you can use a chainsaw to girdle a tree and squirt herbicide to kill it, this works really effectively for larger trees and is faster than drilling a lot of holes.

How to use drill and squirt to kill callery pear.

You know you’ve got interesting friends when they send you things like this in the mail.