Habitat University

State wildlife resource agencies are often on the front lines of wildlife habitat management and conservation on private lands by providing technical expertise and custom-tailored programs to help wildlife and people. But each state has its own unique approach. To learn more about these approaches, we're going to be taking a tour of state-led private land programs around the country in the next few episodes! To get us started, Adam visited with Ray Aberle, the private lands program manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the director of the Private Lands Working Group of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Ray shared some really interesting insights about the approaches states use across the country for private lands work and then discussed the specific programs he oversees in Colorado.

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Resources and references mentioned in the episode:

Learn more about AFWA and the Private lands working group here: https://www.fishwildlife.org/afwa-acts/afwa-committees/private-lands-working-group

Learn more about the variety of private lands programs in Colorado that Ray mentioned here:

https://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Pages/PrivateLandProgramsResources.aspx

Ray mentioned Rick Knight at Colorado State University—find his work here: https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/richardknight/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2019/02/CV.pdf

Ray mentioned the Meadowlark Initiative in North Dakota. Learn more here: https://gf.nd.gov/meadowlark-initiative

This week we shift our inquiry from the U.S. Department of Agriculture into the Department of the Interior where we find a litany of wildlife biologists working to conserve wildlife habitat on private lands through various programs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In this episode, Adam interviews biologist Gwen Kolb from the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in New Mexico and Kraig McPeek from the Ecological Services Office in Illinois. Kraig and Gwen provide a detailed overview of how the USFWS works with private landowners throughout the country to help conserve a diversity of wildlife species and help landowners and managers achieve their own goals! Help us improve the podcast by taking this Habitat University Listener Feedback Survey: https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oteinFuEzFCDmm

Resources and references mentioned in the episode:

Learn more about the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, including state contacts, at this website: https://www.fws.gov/program/partners-fish-and-wildlife

Find a U.S. FWS office near you with this link: https://www.fws.gov/visit-us?type=%5B%22Conservation%20Office%22%5D

Learn more about federally endangered species here: https://www.fws.gov/program/endangered-species

Learn what species are listed in your state here: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/report/species-listings-by-state-totals?statusCategory=Listed

Learn more about Candidate Conservation Agreements (CCA's) here: https://www.fws.gov/service/candidate-conservation-agreements

Learn more about the Topeka Shiner conservation success story in this article from NRCS featuring interviewee Kraig McPeek!: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ia/newsroom/stories/nrcs142p2_008651/

Learn more about the Rio Grande Cutthroat (https://westernnativetrout.org/rio-grande-cutthroat-trout/) from the Western Native Trout Initiative.

CRP, EQIP, WRE, ACEP, CP, SAFE, MA, FRPP.....OK you get the point –there are A LOT of acronyms when it comes to federal programs for conservation work on private lands in the U.S. The Natural Resources Conservation Service –NRCS –is integral in the implementation of many of these programs. So this week, Jarred and Adam visited with Indiana's NRCS State Wildlife Biologist Brianne Lowe to get the skinny on all these acronyms and how the programs they represent can be used to create habitat for wildlife on private lands!

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Resources and references mentioned in the episode:

Find a library of the "CP's" or "Conservation Practices" under the CRP here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/crp-practices-library/index

Learn more about the ACEP program here: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/easements/acep/

Find your local NRCS office here: https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app

We apologize for the technical difficulties associated with this episode and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

There is A LOT of private land in the U.S. and that means there are A LOT of challenges and opportunities for wildlife habitat conservation there! This season, Adam and Jarred will be joining guests from across the country to admire these challenges and opportunities thoroughly. In this first episode of Season 2 of Habitat University, they set the stage for the season and discuss what some of these challenges and opportunities will look like and how they'll be exploring them in the episodes to come!

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Resources and references mentioned in the episode:

Morgan et al. (2019) study that reports area of private land and numbers of private lands wildlife biologists in each state.

Morgan, J. J., Rhoden, C. M., White, B., & Riley, S. P. (2019). A state assessment of private lands wildlife conservation in the United States. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 43(3), 328-337. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.997

Overview of private lands wildlife conservation in the U.S. with reference to the 71% private land ownership statistic.

Burger, L. W., Evans, K. O., McConnell, M. D., & Burger, L. M. (2019). Private lands conservation: A vision for the future. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 43(3), 398-407. doi:10.1002/wsb.1001

National Woodland Owner Survey from the U.S. Forest service with information on family forest ownership: https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/nwos/ The dashboard shows customized information for each state, including those shared in the episode: https://ffrc.shinyapps.io/NWOSdashboard/

Report on landownership statistics in Iowa.

Zhang, W. A. Plastina, and W. Sawadgo. 2018. Iowa Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey 1982-2017: A Thirty-five Year Perspective, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, FM 1893. https://store.extension.iastate.edu/product/6492

Macaulay study that shows the impact of wildlife associated recreation on private lands management in the U.S.

Macaulay, L. (2016). The role of wildlife-associated recreation in private land use and conservation: Providing the missing baseline. Land Use Policy, 58, 218-233. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.06.024

USFWS Report showing the impacts of CRP on private lands in the northern US on breeding duck production.

Drum, R. G., Loesch, C. R., Carrlson, K. M., Doherty, K. E., & Fedy, B. C. (2015). Assessing the biological benefits of the USDA-Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for waterfowl and grassland passerines in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States: Spatial analyses for targeting CRP to maximize benefits for migratory birds. Final Report for USDA–FSA Agreement. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/drumetal2015_crp_prr_final.pdf

Not sure what to get the habitat manager on your list this holiday season? Have no fear! In this episode, Adam and Jarred chat about what's on their holiday habitat wishlist. Take a listen and you are sure to find the perfect gift idea. You will also get a sneak peek about what's coming up on Habitat University in 2022.

You can find Adam and Jarred's wishlist below along with some helpful links.

Adam's WIshlist

1. Native Plants - https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/about/native-plants
2. Field Guide (Adam's Favorite) - https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/lawrence-newcomb/newcombs-wildflower-guide/9780316604420/
3. Woodworking for wildlife - https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/wildlife/woodworking-wildlife
4. Cellular Trail Camera - https://www.trailcampro.com/collections/cellular-trail-cameras
5. Good Books (Adam's recommendation) - https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass

Jarred's Wishlist

1. Drone or UAV - https://extension.purdue.edu/uav/natural-resources/
2. Invasive control tools (Backpack sprayer or pulling tool) - https://www.entm.purdue.edu/iisc/pdf/ABH_Tool_Info.pdf
3. Gift certificate or registering for an in-person or online wildlife/habitat management course - https://www.deerassociation.com/steward/
4. Chainsaw or Prescribed Fire PPE - https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/C%201148_1.PDF https://research.cnr.ncsu.edu/blogs/southeast-fire-update/2019/09/09/ppe-for-landowners-practical-clothing-options/
5. Drip torch - https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=15801&itemnum=85022

Disclaimer

Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or certification of any kind by Purdue Extension. Persons using such products assume responsibility for their use in accordance with current directions of the manufacturer.

Adam and Jarred are joined in this episode by award-winning instructor, Dr. Liz Flaherty, to chat about teaching undergraduate students all about habitat management. Dr. Flaherty is an Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology & Habitat Management at Purdue University. Take a listen to learn about the insights you can take from a college classroom and apply on your own property.

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Dr. Liz Flaherty - https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/profile.aspx?strAlias=eflaher

The research Jarred mentioned about the value of CRP fields based on their distance from bobwhite populations. Private land conservation has landscape-scale benefits for wildlife in agroecosystems - https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2664.13136

Ask anyone what they're doing for wildlife habitat and you're sure to hear mention of the challenges of invasive species. From aquatic invasive species that restructure entire food webs of Great Lakes to carpets of exotic grasses changing fire regimes in the west, invasive species are everywhere. In this episode, Jarred and Adam first dig in on the science of invasive species and discuss the challenges they present for wildlife and wildlife habitat. Then, we feature short discussions with Dawn Slack of The Nature Conservancy in Indiana to hear about her team's hand-to-hand combat with invasive plants and Bronson Strickland to get the scoop on invasive feral pigs in the southeast.

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This episode's guests included Dawn Slack from the the Nature Conservancy in Indiana (https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/indiana/) and Dr. Bronson Strickland from Mississippi State University (http://extension.msstate.edu/wildlife-fisheries-aquaculture/dr-bronson-strickland).

From our discussion of invasive plant definitions, USDA's definitions (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ct/technical/ecoscience/invasive/?cid=nrcs142p2_011124) and Grace College's definition (https://lakes.grace.edu/native-non-native-invasive-species/).

Learn more about the idea of the "Invasion triangle" we discussed in the episode with this paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.47

Download the paper from Iowa that discusses the characteristics of exotic invasive woody plants in Iowa: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=ncrpis_pubs

References mentioned in the discussion with Dawn Slack:

Indiana Invasive Species Council - https://www.entm.purdue.edu/iisc/index.html

Southern Indiana Cooperative Invasive Management - http://www.sicim.info/

Find a Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area - https://www.invasive.org/cismas/

Invasive and Exotic Species of North America - https://www.invasive.org/

Learn more about invasive pigs here: https://www.wildpiginfo.msstate.edu/index.php

Midwest Invasive Plant Network: https://www.mipn.org/

Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council: https://www.se-eppc.org/index.cfm

University of Georgia's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health - https://www.bugwood.org/index.cfm

Iowa State resources: https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/invasives

When you're managing habitat for wildlife do you think more about plants than wildlife? Yeah, us too. So who better to chat with than one of the nation's leading researchers and educators on plant-wildlife interactions? In this episode, Jarred and Adam chat with author and University of Tennessee Extension Wildlife Specialist Dr. Craig Harper. Tune in for a masterclass on the importance of plants and plant id for all habitat managers. But, don't worry, you don't have to be a botanist for this episode; Craig gives some helpful tips for anyone interested in learning more about plants, wildlife, and habitat management on their land.

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Learn more about this week's guest, Dr. Craig Harper: https://fwf.tennessee.edu/craig-harper/

Wildlife Food Plots and Early Successional Plants by Dr. Harper: https://nocsopublishing.com/

American Wildlife and Plants book quoted in the episode, a great resource, and where we sorta borrowed the title of this episode from! - https://bookshop.org/books/american-wildlife-and-plants/9780486207933

Flicker color and honeysuckle study: https://www.audubon.org/news/mystery-solved-invasive-berries-blame-turning-flickers-feathers-pink

2020 paper titled "Seeding is not always necessary to restore native early successional plant communities" that Dr. Harper referenced in the episode: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13249

What do baseball and wildlife habitat management have in common? Take a listen to this week's episode as Adam and Jarred discuss what Adam calls "the Moneyball problem" of habitat management. They chat about how lessons learned from the best-selling book (and movie) - Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game – can be applied to habitat management.

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Resources mentioned:

Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game, by Michael Lewis - https://bookshop.org/books/moneyball-the-art-of-winning-an-unfair-game/9780393324815

Read a synopsis on the book from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball

The famous, Van Horne paper, Density as a misleading indicator of habitat quality: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3808148

"Streetlight effect" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect

Moneyball and Shorebirds - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/moneyball-for-shorebirds-how-precision-analytics-are-changing-habitat-conservation/

Rosy retrospection hypothesis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection

Article about University of Tennessee white oak and fertilizer research project - https://www.deerassociation.com/for-more-acorns-dont-fertilize-oak-trees-maybe-cut-some-down/

Aldo Leopold's defined his 5 tools of game management when he wrote Game Management over 80 years ago. But what tools did he miss, or what tools have been developed in the 88 years since the book was published? Join Adam and Jarred as they share their thoughts on the habitat management tools that should be added to the list. What tools would you add to Aldo's list? Also, listen as Jarred tries to convince Adam that his toolbox analogy isn't complete nonsense.

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Hartzler, R. G. (2010). "Reduction in common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) occurrence in Iowa cropland from 1999 to 2009." Crop Protection 29(12): 1542-1544. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219410002152

Rathfon, R. A., S. M. Greenler, and M. A. Jenkins. n.d. Effects of prescribed grazing by goats on non-native invasive shrubs and native plant species in a mixed-hardwood forest. Restoration Ecology n/a:e13361. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rec.13361

Marzluff, J. M. and K. Ewing (2001). "Restoration of fragmented landscapes for the conservation of birds: A general framework and specific recommendations for urbanizing landscapes." Restoration Ecology 9(3): 280-292. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1526-100x.2001.009003280.x