PROVIDING DIVERSE HABITAT HELPS A VARIETY OF WILDLIFE

The last few weeks have seemed more like a winter in a Jack London novel than one in Southeast Missouri. Nobody seemed to have one minute's worth of fun in those epics of the Yukon.

Man and beast were always being swept away in avalanches, perishing in ice flows, subsisting on boiled leather, and always wet, cold and hungry.

The habitat was rough.

Our habitat is a few steps ahead of the Malamute Kid. But wildlife still must answer to the call of the wild. And now in some places the habitat is lacking.

Habitat is defined as the proper food, water and cover that an animal needs to exist and reproduce. When you consider attracting wildlife to your land, there are several basic habitat concepts to remember. The richer the habitat (the more food, water and cover in an area), the more likely you are to attract wildlife to your property. They also stay around longer for you to observe and enjoy. Good habitat means healthier animals.

The more diverse the habitat is -- the more types of vegetation in an area -- the more diverse the wildlife species are. A diverse landscape contains a mixture of trees, shrubs, vines and other greenery that produces different kinds of food and cover. For vegetative diversity, you should also keep in mind the months that plants flower and fruit, so you can offer food to wildlife at different times of the year. For year-round vegetative cover, plant evergreens.

The next step for wildlife is to record what features you have on your property. Probably the best way to do this is to walk around your property and sketch the natural and human-made components. Record the larger types of vegetation, if you can identify them, and note any animals you see that were not included on your wildlife list. Select those trees, shrubs, vines and ferns that benefit the desired species or wildlife groups and those that aesthetically appeal to you.

A good mix of large backyard trees (30 or more feet tall), small backyard trees and shrubs (from 10 to 30 feet tall), and small and medium backyard shrubs (10 feet tall and under) is desired. Because of wide genetic variation in many tree and shrub species, strive to obtain local stock (or stock grown north of you) to help ensure winter survival. Deciduous vines are used by wildlife.

Because of the nature of their growth, perennial vines require periodic pruning and should never be allowed to grow against wooden houses. To guide the growth of vines, furnish structural support with wooden trellises, wire mesh, fences, driftwood or rocks.

Birds are generally attracted to seeds and small fruits from such plants as hawthorns, dogwoods and elderberries. The seeds most birds prefer are typically row crops such as sunflowers and millets, which are not suitable for planting in most residential situations.

When selecting fruit-bearing plants for birds (and many mammals), choose some with berries that ripen in the summer and others with fruits that persist into the fall and winter.

Blackberries, mulberries and other fleshy summer berries are generally rich in high-energy sugars and are relished by many wildlife species. Typical fall and winter fruits such as hollies, hawthorns and viburnums are generally composed of low-energy lipids which resist rot. The fruits from these plants persist well into the cold weather and are eaten by birds and mammals when nothing else is available in the winter or early the next spring.

However, there are a few plants which have fall-ripening fruits containing high-energy lipids that would rot if not eaten. Notable examples include dogwood, spicebush, sassafras, black gum and Virginia creeper. In order to get animals to disperse the seeds found inside the fall fruits, it has been speculated that these plants gain the attention of fall migrating birds (that need the energy for migration) by turning their leaves bright red early, when most other plants still have green foliage.

Vegetation is the natural architecture that many wildlife species use for protection from predators and the weather and for a place to rest and raise young. Compact-growing, thorny branches of hawthorns, multi-stemmed shrubs such as viburnums and dogwoods, and evergreen boughs of cedars and spruces offer year-round cover to many birds and mammals.

The start of next winter is less than a year away. Now is the time to plan to improve the habitat in the backyard or the back forty. Don't wait for next year's ice out to think about it.

Joe Garvey is district forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation.