Whether you grow tomatoes, irrigate rice, sell sod, raise cattle, tend orchards, own forest, cut timber, run a hunt club or feed wildlife, in some way you manage habitat. “Best management practices” (BMPs) are available to assist landowners with planning, implementing and managing their land.
Developed by experienced practitioners, and management and research organizations, these management tools are based on the best available science. BMPs will often save landowners money in the long term even as they improve conditions for wildlife in the short term.
The following are a selection of BMPs culled from various national, regional, state and local sources. Each is available for download as a pdf.
Discusses grass, 3-zone, 2-zone, wildlife, urban and naturalized buffers and recommendations for how to choose, establish and cost-share.
Read More »Defines riparian buffers and discusses various benefits, including property value, wildlife habitat, timber, and recreational/aesthetic/spiritual values.
Read More »This 26-page booklet introduces the Stream-A-Syst system to help landowners assess and manage their streams. It contains a worksheet, action plan with recommended steps and sources of information to address various issues, and a visual (photographic) assessment guide.
Read More »A practical guide to ways agricultural producers can profit from the growing environmental marketplace from
American Farmland Trust, 2010. An in-depth 55-page handbook that introduces and surveys the types of environmental markets, how to get involved including evaluating financial returns and assessing risks, and what farmers and ranchers can do to encourage these markets.
Read More »This brief University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture publication by Becky McPeake, Associate Director of Wildlife, includes tips for developing a management plan and actual practices for habitat management. It includes sections on special habitat types, tips on native species, food plots, pesticide use, snags, brush piles, supplemental feeding, water and nest boxes of many kinds.
Read More »From The Heinz Center, this 2008 lengthy publication is targeted to land managers who practice adaptive management.
Read More » a 4-page publication from the SC Dept. of Natural Resources, tells how to provide food and improve habitat through standard management practices.
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The Habitat Management Guideslines for Amphibians and Reptiles series (hereafter Guidelines) is intended to provide private landowners, state and federal land agencies, and other wwformation and specific management guidelines presented are based on best available science, peer-reviewed expert opinion, and published literature.
The “Maximizing Compatibility” and “Ideal” man- agement guidelines are recommendations made and reviewed by groups of professionally trained herpetologists and wildlife biologists from private, state, and federal organizations. Because of the taxonomic and ecological diversity of amphibians and reptiles, recommendations may not apply to every species in every situation. The authors and editors of the Guidelines suggest consulting a local herpetologist before significant land-use changes are implemented.
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This is a 7-page fact sheet that covers life history, food requirements, habitat
and forest management to benefit Bobwhite.
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Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) were once common, even abundant, on farms, rangelands and forests across more than 30 states. Bobwhites have declined an average of 3% per year since 1966, and have virtually disappeared from some northern states. The last strongholds are portions of the western states with significant native habitats and quail-friendly land-use patterns, or other locales where bobwhite management is a priority on agricultural or plantation lands. Over most of the species’ range, the decline of wild bobwhite populations has relegated quail hunting to memories. The next few decades may be our last opportunity to halt the declines, stem widespread localized extinctions of bobwhites, and restore populations enough to create new memories for many.
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Bibby et al.’s (1992) review of bird census techniques opens with the statement that ‘birds are counted for a wide variety of reasons by a bewildering range of methods’. In the southeastern United States, a number of different survey techniques and protocols are used. Some form the foundation of regional, national and international avian monitoring programs, while others have the potential to do so. In order to promote awareness of what programs and protocols are available, this guide summarizes popular, multi-species bird monitoring programs and protocols that are currently used, or could be used, within the Southeast Partners in Flight region.
Audience - Graduate students and biologists who are looking for ways to collect data that can be analyzed using current methods and are compatible with other data sets in clearinghouses such as the Avian Knowledge Network.
The guide is meant as a starting point for individuals seeking out information to assess the pros and cons of various protocols in addressing their project objectives. In those cases where the protocols are inextricably linked to a broader monitoring program, the program itself (e.g., North American Breeding Bird Survey) and/or the sampling scheme (e.g., Strategic Multi-scale Grassland Bird Population Monitoring) is summarized along with the protocol. Our focus was primarily on those protocols designed to measure abundance and demographic parameters.
Suggested citation: Laurent, E.J., J. Bart, J. Giocomo, S. Harding, K. Koch, L. Moore-Barnhill, R. Mordecai, E. Sachs, T. Wilson. 2012. A Field Guide to Southeast Bird Monitoring Programs and Protocols. Southeast Partners in Flight. http://SEmonitoringguide.sepif.org
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Lower Mississippi Valley Joint VentureTraditional forest management has focused on production of forest products (i.e., lumber or pulp) through silviculture that promotes optimal growth and vigorous health of economically desirable tree species. Often these traditional silvicultural methods are not optimal for forest-dependent wildlife. Indeed, quality habitat for priority wildlife species likely requires some sacrifice in timber production and the retention of less healthy trees. Even so, commercially viable, wildlife-oriented silviculture (i.e., wildlife forestry) employing variable retention harvests can be used in conjunction with forest restoration, regeneration, and natural processes to achieve desired forest conditions within bottomland hardwood forests.
This report was prepared by wildlife biologists and foresters working in many different offices and management units within 15 different federal agencies, state agencies, timber firms, and conservation groups.
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National Wild Turkey Federation
In recent years, there has been increased interest in establishing native warm season grasses (NWSG) and forbs as wildlife habitat. Commonly known as prairie or prairie grass, native grasslands and savannas, a forest/grassland complex with less than 50% tree coverage, historically dominated the landscape across much of the United States. These grasses and forbs grow during the warmer months of the year as opposed to cool season grasses such as fescue and brome.
Read More »A Prescribed Fire Association is a group of landown- ers and other concerned citizens that form a partnership to conduct prescribed burns. Prescribed burning is the key land management tool used to restore and maintain native plant communities to their former diversity and productivity for livestock production and wildlife habitat. Native prairies, shrublands, and forests supply the majority of livestock forage and much of the wildlife habitat in the U.S. Without fire, many native plant communities become dysfunctional and unproductive. Research has clearly shown that there is no substitute for fire.
Many forest and grassland ecosystems are fire dependent and not burning is poor land management. Why do not more people use prescribed fire to manage their land? First, fire was not part of the European culture that settled in post-Columbian America. Fire exclusion and fire suppression has been engrained in our society for years and popularized by the very successful Smokey the Bear ad campaign. The result has been a rapid decline in the quality of our natural resources, along with costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year to fight wildfires and the many other nega- tive consequences of fuel build up.
article adapted from Oklahome Cooperative Extension Association
Read More »A summary of all the benefits of prescribed fire in southern forests.
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Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, in cooperation with our conservation partners, proposes the establishment of a landscape-based, coordinated effort to improve ecosystem health in the Gulf of Mexico and its associated watersheds.
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As many Tennessee producers are aware, cool-season grasses, such as tall fescue and orchardgrass, suffer from poor forage production during the summer months. This has led to the search for cost-effective alternatives to bridge this summer “forage slump.” Native warm-season grasses (NWSG), bermudagrass and summer annuals
are potential alternatives that can provide ample forage during this period.
However, economic analyses of NWSG in the Mid- South are limited to switchgrass, and only then for biofuel production. The Center for Native Grasslands Management has developed a Web-based, interactive, decision-support tool to examine various scenarios associ- ated with summer forage production. This tool can be used to examine the impacts of fuel cost, seed cost and planting rates, herbicide cost and application rates, and fertilizer price and application rates on the economics of grazing and haying NWSG, bermudagrass and summer annuals. The tool is based on UT budgets developed for forages (http://economics.ag.utk.edu/budgets.html). Using output from this decision-support tool and January 2011 current prices (Table 1), this publication offers insight into the economic implications of several inputs and outputs of NWSG as a forage in the Mid-South. Seed, fertilizers, her- bicides and fuel costs may vary greatly over time, so this publication is meant to serve only as a guide.
Read More »This 40-page document provides detailed information on the biology of wild pigs, how to recognize their presence, the type of damage they can cause to agriculture and natural areas and a wide range of management techniques, including hunting. It applies to just about anywhere in the U.S. where wild pigs are found.
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CP-33 Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds is available under the United States Department of Agriculture Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP). CP-33 enrollment is capped at 350,000 acres in 35 states within the primary range of the northern bobwhite. Under continuous signup CRP, there is no deadline for producers to submit acreage for enrollment and eligible acres offered are automatically accepted. All CP-33 contracts require a 10-year enrollment period. This article comes from Mississippi State University CP33 website.
Read More »The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) strongly recommends, first and foremost, compliance with all cave1 closures, advisories, and regulations in all Federal, State, Tribal, and private lands. However, where such closures are not required or recommended, the following protocol outlines the best known procedures to help reduce the transmission of the fungus Geomyces destructans (G.d.), believed to be the cause of white-nose syndrome (WNS), to important bat habitat and populations. WNS is responsible for significant bat mortality in eastern North America, and threatens bat populations across the continent.
Read More »Lists toxicities of many different chemicals and how to reduce the risk of pesticide drift.
A list of all Southern Regional Aquaculture Center factsheets (more than 150) are available at
https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/viewAllSheets/ Read More »Defines and discusses management of nutrients, pests, tillage, harvest, and edge/buffers to benefit waterbirds. Also provides crop-specific BMPs for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice.
Read More »Provides instructions for artificial regeneration, site prep, seedings and planting to re-establish longleaf pine. The guidelines conclude, “ Longleaf pine has many desirable characteristics for landowners who have multiple-use forest management objectives. On appropriate sites, and with careful attention to detail during the regeneration phase, it is possible to enjoy the versatility of this species without compromising growth rates.” This paper was written by Chris Demers, Alan Long and Patrick Minogue of University of Florida extension.
Read More »Unlocking Bird Conservation Plans to Create Education Programs that Work
Do you want to connect your audiences to conservation messages but don’t know where to start? Conservation plans, based on extensive biological research, will help prioritize your efforts.
This resource sheet will help you:
- Link your education programs to priorities in bird conservation plans;
- Find relevant bird conservation plans in your area of focus;
- Extract key information to guide education program development; and
- Involve scientists in the development of your education programs.
BMPs oriented more specifically toward energy efficiency, invasive & native species, farms & agriculture and forest resources are also available on this site.