Forest
Stewardship News Release
May
13, 2003 - For Immediate Release
Contact: Rance
Harmon, Phone: 814-863-0401 E-mail: rsh144@psu.edu
Grasses
Can Provide Habitat for Declining Species
Grassland
habitats have declined steadily for decades in Pennsylvania. Sources of
loss include commercial and suburban development, and the natural processes
that cause fields to grow into forests. Populations of some animals that
depend on grasslands have also declined. Margaret Brittingham, a Wildlife
Specialist in Penn State's School of Forest Resources, encourages landowners
to consider planting warm-season grasses to help restore habitat.
"Warm-season grasses look very different from the grasses most of us are used to seeing in our lawns and hay fields," Brittingham says. "They are much taller and more colorful. They grow in large bunches with many stems and create a striking visual scene." Warm-season grasses produce their best growth in June, July, and August, compared to cool-season grasses, which grow best in spring and fall.
Brittingham recommends planting a variety of wildflower and warm-season grass species together. The wildflowers and grasses benefit wildlife by providing food, nesting sites, and winter cover. Wildflowers attract insects that add additional food sources. The thick, rigid, upright stems of warm-season grasses provide excellent nesting and winter cover for grassland birds. White-tailed deer are known to "hide" their young fawns in warm-season grasses.
Even small patches of warm-season grasses and wildflowers can benefit wildlife. Homeowners might attract meadow voles, rabbits, songbirds, and butterflies with small plantings. Larger plantings can provide habitat for foxes and nesting sites for birds such as northern harriers, grasshopper sparrows, ring-necked pheasants, dicksissels, bobolinks, eastern meadowlarks, and field, vesper, and savannah sparrows.
To help people learn more about the importance of warm-season grasses and to provide guidance for landowners interested in planting them, Brittingham teamed up with Wildlife Biologist Colleen DeLong to co-author, Pennsylvania Wildlife #12: Warm-Season Grasses and Wildlife. Like the other titles in the series, Pennsylvania Wildlife #12 is available free from the Penn State Cooperative Extension.
To request a copy, contact your county's Cooperative Extension office or the Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program: 1-800-235-WISE (toll-free); RNRext@psu.edu; Forest Stewardship Program, Forest Resources Extension, The Pennsylvania State University, 320 Forest Resources Building, University Park, PA 16802.
The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry and USDA Forest Service, in partnership with the Penn State's Forest Resources Extension, sponsor the Forest Stewardship Program in Pennsylvania.
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