Forest
Stewardship News Release
November
19, 2003 - For Immediate Release
Contact: Rance
Harmon, Phone: 814-863-0401 E-mail: rsh144@psu.edu
Winter
Homes for Wildlife
Anyone who has endured one Pennsylvania winter can tell you: It gets awful
cold. As the cold weather approaches, Pennsylvanians prepare by donning
winter coats, hats, scarves, and mittens. We may even try to keep from
spending time outdoors at all. Pennsylvania wildlife share these same
instincts. Animals that don’t migrate or hibernate will spend the
season searching for warmth in the snow-covered forest.
Rock walls, brush piles, grapevine tangles, briar patches, tree cavities, downed wood, bark crevices, these are all examples of what natural resource professionals call “winter thermal cover,” or places for animals to take shelter from the cold. According to Gary San Julian, professor of wildlife ecology at Penn State, developing good wildlife habitat means providing all of the elements that animals need: food, water, and shelter.
"Animals are looking for a place out of the wind, a place to stay dry, and a place to stay insulated.” San Julian says. Where does such a place exist? For deer, a cluster of evergreen trees makes the perfect hide-away from the snow and cold. Places that are vulnerable to the cold, such as the transitional area between field and forest, can be made more wildlife friendly by leaving a couple of rows of crops along the edges. San Julian adds, “That’s especially important if there is some thermal cover nearby. You don’t get your best crops there anyway, and it has a great benefit for wildlife, and also has a benefit for erosion. ”
You don’t have to be a farmer or forest landowner to provide winter habitat for animals. San Julian has built a brush pile, a loose collection of fallen twigs and branches, in his backyard for resting rabbits, and other small mammals. He notes that birds are attracted to open sources of water, such as heated birdbaths (or in the forest, spring seeps), when fresh water is in short supply.
For more information about providing wildlife with winter cover, request a free copy of “Forest Stewardship Bulletin #5: Wildlife” or “Pennsylvania Wildlife #1: Wildlife-Habitat Relationships.” Contact your county’s Cooperative Extension office or the Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program for these or other free publications: 1-800-235-WISE (toll free); Forest Stewardship Program, Forest Resources Extension, The Pennsylvania State University, 320 Forest Resources Building, University Park, PA 16802 - or use our on-line Contact form.
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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