Sometimes, human activity gets help from wildlife

As a free-range kid my fascination with nature took a “predator” twist for a short time. After throwing a rock one day, I was aghast as birds struggled and died.  My interest shifted to nature study, with a focus on piecing together wild lives, interactions, and learning how they use and influence their habitats.

Our home is in a woodland opening, on a hillside with both salt- and freshwater views. It has become an observation blind where we witness surprising wildlife interactions. I’ve run out the front door, only to be attacked and chased back into the house by a female ruffed grouse (partridge) protecting her brood! Emitting a cat-like meow, she charged immediately, forcing me back in the house. I exited quietly by another door. 

As a new property owner in the 1970s, I divided my time between house building, planting/tending trees, shrubs and plants and my wildlife biologist job. Restoring species richness and wildlife habitats on the 56 acres was literally “walking the talk” at work.

Successful plantings require an understanding of soils, exposure to sunlight, water table levels, seasonal fluctuations and nutrient availability. Tree species each have different abilities and needs. On flat ground water seeps downward. On slopes or along floodplains, water percolates along through upper organic layers, making more nutrients available to plants.

During 1976, all the trees and shrubs I spring-planted in new forest openings vanished. Rabbits (hares), white-tailed deer, porcupines, mice, muskrats, beavers and woodchucks consume the leaves and twigs of many native plant species. With some chagrin, I realized that my restoration dreams were being undone by the very animals I was trying to help.

Spring scene from the living room window. Photo credit: Alice Reed

In 1977 plant “protection” became a focus. Experiments followed, and I adopted circling each planted seedling with 3-foot-high poultry netting (chicken wire) that had one-inch spacing, held up by three or four electric fencing stakes laced into the wire.  Wood stakes rotted too quickly, but the wire stakes have been re-used for decades. A four-foot-high cage makes it difficult to reach down inside the cages to weed out competitive species. To allow for tree growth, create a roughly three-foot (one metre) circle. They require seasonal tending for fallen limbs, etc. Wire enclosures will protect young trees from most consumers, except mice, until they reach a height of about three feet. At this point the tree can usually survive light animal browsing and continue to grow.

Fortunately, wild animals tend to avoid these wire cages. One spring some loud screaming erupted in woods not far from the house. Two rabbits (snowshoe hares), apparently courting, had jumped into one cage and become trapped. My wife, Alice, heard their screeching and ran to them. One rabbit knew us well, and both settled down as soon as she arrived. Alice let each one out without any struggle.

Beaver teeth can easily cut chicken wire. When planting near a waterway, I use four-foot-high, welded wire mesh with one inch spacing. Circle each planted tree and hold the wire in place with three or four six-foot-long steel rebar posts driven about two feet into the ground. The cage can be wired to the rebar or a single fencing staple applied to fasten the wire to a tree. This stops beavers from simply lifting the cage for a fine-dining experience.

Most tree and many plant species annually grow buds, leaves, needles, bark, flowers, catkins, keys or cones—all of which are attractive for wildlife consumption. Some species are wildlife magnets. Black bears claim territories around red oak trees for their acorns. Forty years ago, I planted apple trees in woodland openings to attract grouse, bears, raccoons and a host of other species. Hawthorns, wild relatives of apple trees, draw many birds and mammals for their fruit. Armoured with spikes, hawthorns create an almost impenetrable hedge. Hazelnuts are smaller trees that produce petite versions of the filberts found in stores.

Deer devouring a yew on the front lawn. Photo credit: Bob Bancroft

Serviceberries (Amelanchier species) are sought after by many mammals and birds, including humans, for their succulent, tasty, purple fruit. Pin and choke cherries ring their dinner bell, too. Maple keys (winged seeds) are an annual delight for chipmunks. Staghorn sumac trees supply fruit that often remains in place until the late winter, when hungry, cold robins devour them. I planted a highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) and the birds kindly spread their berries everywhere, in fertilized packets.

Red osier dogwood bushes (Cornus sericea) were planted around the house. Their red stems look beautiful throughout the winter, while the flowers and berries attract goldfinches and chippies. 

Beechnuts are wildlife favourites, but two foreign agents, a beech bark disease and a new beech leaf mining weevil threaten the survival of American beech trees. Ash tree species are also targets of an alien pest, the emerald ash borer. Eastern hemlocks are dying from another exotic outsider, the hemlock woolly adelgid. In some cases, individual trees can be chemically protected, but, alas, I’m no longer planting these important Acadian tree species.

Climate change was an issue by the 1980s. My osprey studies documented juveniles dying of hypothermia in late June. Shallow-rooted softwoods are vulnerable to droughts. Interior continental heat from two consecutive years of summer drought in New Brunswick is killing balsam fir trees of all ages in woodland I frequent near the Saint John River. 

Anticipating more weather changes, I began looking to New England about 40 years ago for deep-rooted hardwood species that would prove resilient. I now have 50 species of “native and nearby” species, with some ornamentals, residing on the 56 acres. Resilient species like native red maples range south to Florida. Black walnut is a southern tree that grows well here, offering nuts for wildlife. In addition to red oak, I planted bur oak from New Brunswick as well as white or English oak, a species from Europe that has become naturalized here. Once established, these trees will produce many seedlings. Nature, time and wild animals will sort out the survivors in a diversified forest offering more survival options. 

One mystery remained. I kept finding young red oaks on the woodland, but they disappeared every year due to browsing. No mature oaks were anywhere nearby, even on adjacent properties. Where did the acorns come from? It seemed like a long haul for red or flying squirrels.

On a late summer day, paddling in the harbour, I noticed a procession of blue jays flying back and forth between an island and the woodland. Flying from the island, their throats were distended with acorns that they were hiding on the property for the winter!

In autumn young blue jay-planted oaks, that germinated in the spring, display red/purple leaves that persist for some time. That makes them easy to find. I began fall protective caging before the browsers found them. A hoarding instinct keeps the jays hiding acorns annually. A flock of about 20 adults overwinters, but they forget about retrieving the acorns when I feed them sunflower seeds and peanuts!

I’ll begin discussing wildlife habitat in the next issue.

 

Tree species growing on the Pomquet property:

 

Softwoods (coniferous)

White pine, Red pine, Jack pine, Scots pine, Red spruce, Black spruce, White spruce, Blue spruce, White cedar, Red cedar, Eastern hemlock, tamarack (deciduous conifer), Balsam fir

 

Hardwood (deciduous) large trees

Red oak, English oak, Bur oak, Grey birch, White birch, Yellow birch, Mountain maple, Red maple, Sugar maple, Striped maple, Japanese maple, American beech, American elm, Largetooth aspen, Trembling aspen, Eastern cottonwood, White ash, Black ash, Black walnut, Carpathian walnut, ironwood, American chestnut, Horse chestnut

 

Hardwood shrubs/small trees

Staghorn sumac, American hawthorne, Flowering crab, wild apples, shadbush (two species), witchhazel, Speckled alder, Bebb willow, Pussy willow, Shining willow, Mountain ash, Pin cherry, Chokecherry