Pilot Project for Pheasant Habitat Development in a Drought Impacted Landscape
The current historic drought and ongoing water shortage issues have resulted in unprecedented fallowing of previously intensively farmed lands in the name of water conservation. Couple this landscape change with a human population that has effectively doubled since the last big drought period in the mid to late 1970’s, and water shortages have become the new reality.
To date there has been little work and research into the types of vegetation which could provide optimum habitat for upland species in this changing landscape of water shortage and much of the existing work has centered on providing nesting habitat for ducks. While beneficial for nesting ducks, many of these practices have had reduced value for upland species and some of the current direction toward grass planting may actually be a detriment to pheasants as chicks which find great difficulty in foraging in a grass under-story as opposed to more of a forb related structure. Grasses also fail to provide the microclimate that produces moisture and associated insect populations.
This project will establish a sixty-six-acre demonstration site to test the viability of certain plant species as well as the wildlife response over a three- year period. Plantings include mixes of forbs, with some limited grasses in various combinations to simulate the various season scenarios which might be experienced under water transfer or idling programs.