WILDLIFE 

All species of wildlife benefit for many different successional stages. Much like pollinators early successional habitat can provide excellent habitat for a large variety of wildlife species. Some of the things that this early successional habitat can provide includes nesting habitat, forage, and escape cover. For species such as the Wild turkey these different stages early successional habitat can be utilized for nesting, brood rearing, insect forage for the young, and even as escape cover to avoid predators. This early successional habitat is not only useful to game species but also to species of grassland nesting songbirds such as the Bobolink and Eastern meadowlark to name a few. Across Ohio less and less early successional habitat is present as much of this past habitat has grown past this stage and is in the mature forest stage. This limits the amount of suitable habitat on the landscape for those species mentioned

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Some simple ways in which this early successional habitat can be added to a property is through practices such as pollinator plantings, warm season grass plantings, edge feathering, tree plantings, and even patch clear cutting to name a few.

In mid successional stage we look at a mature forest which is comprised of oaks and hickories. This stage is essential for forage production for wildlife with hard mast. This hard mast can be consumed by White tailed deer, Wild turkey, and grey squirrels to name a few of the many species who will utilize this habitat. Some songbird species may also utilize this habitat for nesting as well.

In the late successional stage of a climax forest, we begin to see trees such as American beech and sugar maples being the dominant species. The American beech is utilized by some wildlife for forage such as Wild turkeys. The trees in this woodland are also used for nesting of songbird species such as that of the Cerulean warbler for example.

Over the course of these changes, we see a gradual change from our habitat as well as species diversity. In early successional habitats we see a large and very diverse number of species present within our habitat. In mid successional we begin to see less species using this habitat as it is meeting the habitat requirements for fewer species. And finally in the late successional stages we see that very few species are actively utilizing this habitat as it has aged beyond its most productive years. Across Ohio much of our woodlands are in the mid successional Mature Forest stages and very little has aged to become a climax forest

WETLAND WILDLIFE

Typically, when we are looking at wetland habitat management, we are looking at the creation of a new wetland or the restoration of an existing wetland habitat. In both cases we are focusing on managing these habitats to be productive for wildlife such as waterfowl, shorebirds, frogs, salamanders, and even wetland plant species.

This can be done through the designing of the overall designing of the wetland as well as the management of water levels. As depicted in the image bellow which shows the preferred depths of these waterfowl species, we can then use these when designing a wetland or conducting a restoration project. Wetlands are managed to provide both submergent and emergent vegetation that can be useful as a food source for many of these migratory species while also providing a refuge.

It is important to note that prior to the creation of any wetland certain criteria must be met. These include the presence of hydric soils on the site of the wetland, hydrophytic vegetation present in this area, and the presence of hydrology. These three things must be present for a wetland to be able to be built. Wetlands can be constructed a variety of different ways depending how the land is and what the desired wetland is to be like and what species that landowner is targeting.

Vernal pools are another type of wetland which provide essential habitat for the breeding of many frog and salamander species. These wetlands are only seasonally wet with most of them holding water in spring. These wetlands can also hold water during other times of the year if large amounts of rain occur and can provide habitat for waterfowl as well as a variety of other species.

WHAT WETLANDS PROVIDE US

Not only do wetlands benefit our wildlife and wetland plant species but they also benefit humans in several ways. One of these ways is by helping with the filtering of runoff waters which helps reduce the amount of sediment and pollutants that are reaching our waterways. This improves the overall water quality and prevents impacts associated with sediment and pollutants. In times of heavy rains wetlands can be used as a flood prevention system where they help absorb and store floodwaters. They can also help prevent erosion along with this by reducing the amount of water entering a waterway.

Wetlands can then take this stored flood waters or runoff water and slowly release it into the watershed or groundwater. Finally, these wetland areas serve as a unique recreational opportunity allowing for individuals to view lots of different wildlife species especially migratory bird species at all different times of the year.