quote:
Originally posted by BeeLady:
Yankee Magazine did a great piece on
The Return of Native Turkeys. At least here in New England.
I liked reading that. It made me look into how the wild turkey came to rebound in Pennsylvania. There has always been some population, but it had declined to an estimated 5000 left before restoration efforts began, largely aimed at moving some flocks into vacant suitable habitat. That led me to other topics at the Game Commision website where I found this information concerning the decline of pheasants.
quote:
PHEASANT POPULATION DECLINE
Pennsylvania had the distinction of having some of the highest pheasant densities in the nation around 1970. Why? The federal government developed programs to idle highly erodible farmland and boost crop prices. The Soil Bank (1956-66) and Feed Grain Program (1960s to 1973), idled 500,000 to 600,000 acres in Pennsylvania. Much of this land when idled was already planted in fields of timothy and clover, a preferred nesting cover for pheasants. When these federal programs were discontinued, farmland was put back into production.
By the mid 1970s, pheasant population and harvest trends had begun to decline. Not only in Pennsylvania, but in all eastern states. Economic trends in agriculture have resulted in intensified farming practices. Increased pesticide use, row crop acreage, earlier hay mowing, drainage of wetlands, the elimination of hedgerows on agricultural lands, and increasing urban sprawl all have contributed to the decline of pheasant populations.
More subtle changes also are taking their toll on pheasants and other wildlife dependent on farmland and grassland habitats. The few hedgerows and small woodlots that still exist may seem to remain unchanged, but as they mature, the understory cover so important to pheasants, rabbits and many other animals diminishes. Brushy areas have grown into small woodlots, and the small woodlots of years ago are maturing into forests that provide habitat for squirrels, turkey and deer.
Pheasant range has shrunk at an alarming rate. Approximately 716,000 acres of farmland mostly prime pheasant habitat were lost to urban development from the mid-'70s through the early 1990s. Within the last decade, the greatest changes to Pennsylvania's farmland have been the permanent conversion of agricultural lands to commercial and residential development. The intensification of farming on remaining agricultural areas provides little winter cover and virtually no secure nesting cover for pheasants. Besides the direct loss of wildlife habitat, development leads to more roads and more traffic. This fragmentation often results in habitat patches too small to sustain viable pheasant populations.
That certainly is consistent with what has happened where I live. Prior to WW II, the area was mostly modest sized farms and orchards. These gradually went out of production and more brush and woodland took over. Then more recently, a lot of that land has been cleared for residential development. My wife often complains that we moved to the country and the city followed us there. It would seem that loss of suitable habitat is at the root of the pheasant decline.
I only wish we could devise some practical method to make the white-tailed deer population decline. They've become very destructive, eating many plants that they formerly ignored. Hunting is severely restricted because of the many houses now present and we don't have any wolves. Sometines it seems that the only effective way to reduce the herds is by striking them with automobiles. Maybe we all need "bull bars" on our cars.
Big Al
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Money seems to buy the most happiness when you give it away.
Why does everything have to be so complicated, all in the name of convenience. -ShiroKuro
A lifetime of experience will change a person. If it doesn't, then you're already dead inside. -MarkJ
