Tag: texas

Erosion Control for Wildlife Valuation

Any active practice that attempts to reduce or keep soil erosion to a minimum for wild animals’ benefit is erosion control. Some erosion control practices include:

  • pond construction
  • gully shaping
  • streamside, pond and wetland revegetation
  • establishing native plants
  • dike, levee construction or management
  • water diversion

Pond construction is defined as building a permanent water pond to prevent, stop or control erosion as an approved Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) watershed project while providing habitat diversity and benefiting wildlife. Whenever possible, owners should use ponds to help create or restore shallow water areas as wetlands and for water management.

Gully shaping involves reducing erosion rates on severely eroded areas by smoothing to acceptable grades and re-establishing vegetation. An area should be seeded with plant species that provide food and/or cover for wildlife.

Streamside, pond and wetland revegetation means revegetating areas along creeks, streams, ponds and wetlands to reduce erosion and sedimentation, stabilize streambanks, improve plant diversity and improve the wildlife value of sensitive areas. Some revegetation practices include:

  • building permanent or temporary fences to exclude, limit or seasonally graze livestock to prevent erosion
  • using hay (native, when possible) to slow and spread water runoff in areas where vegetation has been recently re-established
  • establishing plant buffer areas or vegetative filter strips along water courses or other runoff areas
  • installing rip-rap, dredge spoil, or other barrier material along embankments to prevent erosion and protect wildlife habitat
  • establishing stream crossings to provide permanent low water crossings to reduce or prevent erosion

Establishing native plants on critical areas is one method of controlling erosion. These plants also can provide food and/or cover for wildlife and restore native habitat. Some of the ways to establish these plants are listed below.

  • Establish and manage wind breaks/shelterbelts by planting multi-row shelterbelts (at least four rows that are 120 feet wide by 1/4 mile), renovate old shelterbelts (re-fence, root-prune and replace dead trees) and establish shrub mottes.
  • Establish perennial vegetation on circle irrigation corners by revegetating at least every other corner to reduce erosion and sedimentation, improve plant diversity and improve wildlife habitat.
  • Plant permanent vegetation on terraces and field borders to reduce erosion, improve plant diversity and improve wildlife habitat.
  • Conserve tillage/no-till farming practices by leaving waste grain and stubble on the soil surface until the next planting season to provide supplemental food or cover for wildlife, control erosion and improve the soil tilth.

Manage Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) cover by maintaining perennial cover established under the CRP on erodible sites using proper management techniques such as haying, prescribed grazing or burning.

Dike, levee construction or management is a way to establish and maintain wetlands or slow runoff to control or prevent erosion and to provide habitat for wetland-dependent wildlife. Levee management may include reshaping or repairing damage caused by erosion and revegetating levee areas to reduce erosion and sedimentation and stabilize levees. This practice may include fencing to control and manage grazing use.

Water diversion systems also can be installed to protect erodible soils and divert water into wetlands to provide habitat for resident and migratory water birds and wetland-dependent species.

Habitat Management – Texas Wildlife Valuation

Wildlife need four things — food, cover, water, and space. A wild animal’s habitat is its surroundings as a whole, including plants, ground cover, shelter and other animals on the land. Habitat control — or habitat management — means actively using the land to create or promote an environment that benefits wildlife on the land. For the purposed of the wildlife exemption, activities that contribute to habitat control or management include:

  • grazing management
  • prescribed burning
  • range enhancement
  • brush management
  • forest management
  • riparian management and improvement
  • wetland improvements
  • habitat protection for species of concern
  • managing native, exotic and feral species
  • wildlife restoration

Grazing management means shifting livestock and grazing intensity to increase food and animal cover or to improve specific animals’ habitat. Grazing management focuses on: 1) the kind and class of livestock grazed; 2) stocking rates; 3) periodic rest for pastures by controlling grazing intensity; and/or 4) excluding livestock from sensitive areas to promote vegetation protection and recovery or to eliminate competition for food and cover. Deferred grazing can last up to 2 years. Seasonal stocker operations also may be appropriate. Supplemental livestock water—provided by earthen tanks or wells—may be useful when implementing grazing rotation.

Appropriately designed fencing can play an important role in grazing rotation plans. Fencing also can be used to improve or protect sensitive areas, woodlands, wetlands, riparian areas and spring sites. Property owners should review their fencing practices and grazing plans annually to ensure they meet the overall wildlife management goals.

Prescribed burning is defined as the planned application of fire to improve habitat and plant diversity, to increase food and cover or to improve particular species’ habitats. If the owner has a wildlife management plan, that plan should indicate the frequency of planned burnings and the minimum percentage of acreage to be burned. A plan may designate the areas to be protected or excluded from burning, but should remain flexible during periods when conditions are not favorable for burning such as during periods of drought.

Range enhancement means to establish native plants—such as grasses and forbs (weeds and wildflowers)—that provide food and cover for wildlife or help control erosion. Protecting, restoring and managing native prairies also is considered range enhancement.

The plants chosen and the methods for establishing the plants should be appropriate to the county. Non-native species are generally not recommended, but if required for a specific purpose, non-native species should not exceed 25 percent of the seeding mix.

The seeding mixtures should provide for maximum native plant diversity. Many broadleaf plants, such as weeds and wildflowers, provide forage for wildlife and/or seed production. Owners should encourage weed and wildflower species by using the methods appropriate to native rangelands, land devoted to the federal Conservation Reserve Program and improved grass pastures (for example, Coastal Bermuda). Some periodic noxious weed control may be necessary in fields converted to native rangeland to help establish desirable vegetation.

Brush management may involve maintaining, establishing or selectively removing or suppressing targeted woody plants species (including exotics) to encourage the growth of desirable trees, shrubs, grasses and forbs for forage and nesting or protective cover for selected wildlife species. Brush management also includes keeping the proper kind, amount and distribution of woody cover for particular species.

A useful brush management plan should examine wildlife cover requirements, soil types, slope angle and direction, soil loss and erosion factors and plans to control reinvasion as part of an overall wildlife management plan. This practice also should focus on retaining snags to provide cover and nesting sites for cavity-nesting animals. In addition, herbicides, if used, should be used in strict accordance with label directions.

In some areas, where brushy cover is limited, property owners may establish native tree and shrub species to provide food, corridors and/or shelter using appropriate plant species and methods.

Forest management involves establishing, maintaining, harvesting, selectively removing or suppressing trees or woody species (including exotics) to allow for the growth of desirable trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbs for forage and nesting or protective cover for selected species. Forest management activities also include keeping the proper kind, amount and distribution of woody cover for selected animal species.

As with brush management mentioned above, this practice also includes retaining snags to provide cover and nesting sites for cavity-nesting animals. Forest management activities include pre-commercial thinning or non-commercial thinning, which involves reducing the stocking levels in a stand to increase the sunlight that reaches the ground to increase vegetation or plants in the understory.

Property owners should establish native tree and shrub species to provide food, corridors and/or shelter using species and methods appropriate to the county. Owners should attempt to restore important forested habitats including bottomland hardwoods, longleaf pine, bogs, mixed pine/hardwood areas and upland hardwoods. Owners also should avoid breaking up large forested habitats for some wildlife species.

Riparian management and improvement focuses on annually and/or seasonally protecting the vegetation and soils in riparian areas (low areas on either side of stream courses). Riparian management and improvements can include: providing livestock alternate watering sites; deferring livestock grazing in pastures with riparian areas during critical periods; excluding livestock from pastures with riparian areas; and fencing to exclude or provide short duration livestock grazing.

Property owners should attempt to restore important forested habitats including bottomland hardwoods, bogs, mixed pine/hardwood areas and turkey roost sites and avoid breaking up large forested habitats in riparian areas.

Wetland improvements provide seasonal or permanent water for roosting, feeding or nesting for wetland wildlife. This practice involves creating, restoring or managing shallow wetlands, greentree reservoirs, playa lakes and other moist soil sites.

Habitat protection for species of concern refers to managing land to provide habitat for an endangered, threatened or rare species. Habitat protection includes managing, or developing additional areas for protecting nesting sites, feeding areas and other critical habitat limiting factors. This protection can be provided by fencing off critical areas, by managing vegetation for a particular species, by maintaining firebreaks to ensure critical overstory vegetation and by annually monitoring the species of concern. Any broad-scale habitat management for migrating, wintering, breeding neotropical birds (primarily songbirds) should follow the specific guidelines provided in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s management plans for each ecological region. Contact the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or follow specifically approved management guidelines before practicing activities designed to protect endangered species.

Managing native, exotic and feral species involves controlling the grazing and the browsing pressure from native and non-native wildlife, particularly white-tailed deer and exotic ungulates, such as axis deer. This practice is designed to prevent overuse of desirable plant species and to improve the habitat and plant diversity for native animals.

To ensure that an owner’s objectives are met and that the animals are not exceeding the habitat’s carrying capacity, owners should monitor harvesting of animals and vegetation use over time. Owners also may control other exotic and feral animals to improve the habitat and reduce the negative effect on native wildlife. (Feral animals are previously domesticated animals that have become wild.)

In addition, owners should selectively remove or control exotic vegetation affecting native habitats and wildlife over a period of time (for example, large stands of naturalized salt cedar, Chinese tallow, weeping lovegrass, etc.). Owners also should convert tame pasture grasses (such as large areas of coastal bermuda) to native vegetation.

Wildlife restoration simply means 1) restoring and improving a habitat to good condition for targeted species and 2) reintroducing and managing a TPWD-approved native species within a habitat’s carrying capacity as part of a TPWD-approved restoration area.

Providing Supplemental Shelter for Wildlife Exemption

Providing supplemental shelter means actively creating or maintaining vegetation or artificial structures that provide shelter from the weather, nesting and breeding sites or “escape cover” from enemies. The best shelter for wildlife can be provided by a well-managed habitat. Some practices listed below provide types of shelter that may be unavailable in the habitat and that will help you qualify for wildlife valuation:

  • installing nest boxes and bat boxes
  • brush piles and slash retention
  • managing fence lines
  • managing hay meadow, pasture or cropland
  • half-cutting trees and shrubs
  • establishing woody plants and shrubs
  • developing natural cavities and snags

Installing nest boxes and bat boxes in the proper numbers and locations to provide nests or dens for selected species when necessary should be consistent with the habitat needs of the target species.

Brush piles and slash retention can provide additional wildlife cover and protection in habitats where inadequate natural cover limits the growth of a selected species. Planned placement of brush piles and slash retention—leaving dead brush on the ground where it was cut or uprooted—also can protect seedlings of desirable plant species. In addition, stacking posts or limbs in tepees can provide cover for small game and other wildlife in open areas.

Fence line management, which maintains or allows trees, shrubs, forbs and grasses to grow around fence lines, can provide both food and cover. This practice should only be used where cover is insufficient in the habitat, i.e. cropland or tame pasture.

Hay meadow, pasture or cropland management can be useful tools in wildlife management. Owners should postpone mowing/swathing hay fields until after the peak of the nesting/young-rearing period of local ground-nesting birds and mammals.

Owners also should mow or shred one-third of open areas per year, preferably in strips or mosaic types of patterns, to create “edge” and structural diversity. Weeds are an important source of food for many wildlife species, and owners should, therefore, minimize weed control practices.

Owners should use no till/minimum till agricultural practices to leave waste grain and stubble on the soil surface until the next planting season to provide supplemental food or cover for wildlife, control erosion and improve soil tilth.

Providing shelter also can include roadside right-of-way management for ground-nesting birds, establishing perennial vegetation on circle irrigation corners, terraces, fencerows and field borders, establishing multi-row shelterbelts or renovating old shelterbelts, and protecting and managing old homesites, farmsteads and Conservation Reserve Program cover.

Half-cutting trees and shrubs — partially cutting branches of a live tree or shrub to encourage horizontal cover near the ground — provides supplemental cover in habitats where cover is lacking for a targeted wildlife species (See the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Bulletin 48).

Woody plant/shrub establishment — planting native seedlings to establish shrub thickets, shelterbelts or wind rowswind rows—should be organized by four rows of 120 feet for a 1/4 mile.

Natural cavity/snag development involves retaining and/or creating snags for cavity-dwelling species. Undesirable trees can be girdled or treated with herbicide and left standing. Large living trees should be protected and girdling should be minimal where trees are insufficient.

Census Surveys for Wildlife Exemption

Census counts are periodic surveys and inventories to determine the number, composition or other relevant information about a wildlife population to measure if the current wildlife management practices are serving the targeted species.

Such surveys also help evaluate the management plan’s goals and practices. Specifically, this activity estimates species numbers, annual population trends, density or age structure using accepted survey techniques. Annual results should be recorded as evidence of completing this practice. The survey techniques and intensity listed below should be appropriate to the species counted:

  • spotlight counting
  • aerial counts
  • daylight wildlife composition counts
  • harvest data collection and record keeping
  • browse utilization surveys
  • census and monitoring endangered, threatened or protected wildlife
  • census and monitoring of nongame wildlife species

Spotlight counting animals, typically white-tailed deer, at night along a predetermined route using a spotlight should follow accepted methodology, with a minimum of three counts conducted annually.

Aerial counts for white-tailed deer and other ungulates using a fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter to survey animals also should follow accepted methodology for the region and be performed by a trained individual.

Daylight wildlife composition counts are driving counts used to census wildlife in daylight hours. Annual population trends on dove, quail, turkey and deer, as well as sex/age structure on deer, should be determined by sightings along a standardized transect of a minimum of five miles at least three times during a season.

Harvest data collection/record keeping means tracking annual production of wildlife, usually white-tailed deer. Age, weight and antler development from harvested deer, and the age and sex information from game birds and waterfowl should be obtained annually.

Browse utilization surveys annually examine deer browse plant species for evidence of deer use on each major vegetative site on the property. The surveys should be conducted in a way that can be repeated.

Census and monitoring of endangered, threatened or protected wildlife through periodic counts can improve management and increase knowledge of the local, regional or state status of the species.

Census and monitoring of nongame wildlife species also can improve management or increase knowledge of the local, regional or state status of the species. These practices can include developing checklists of wildlife diversity on the property and should be a part of a comprehensive wildlife management plan.

Supplemental Water and the Wildlife Exemption

Supplemental water for wildlife exemption 

The availability of water year round is extremely important to wildlife and is often a limiting factor on many properties. Most often we think of stock ponds (or “tanks” in Texas) when we think of water sources. However, there are also many other ways to provide water to wildlife that can be equally beneficial.

Troughs, windmill overflow basins, wildlife guzzlers, and plastic drums are just a few ways to provide supplemental water for wildlife without excessive costs. It is imperative that these structures be monitored and kept filled for them to be effective.