Drought Increases Importance of Protecting Wildlife Habitat—Mowing Not Advised

NRCS biologist Mike Hansbrough holds newly hatched wild quail chicks found on Sept 4 in a new native warm season grass planting in Carroll County. The native warm season grass planting was funded under the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Biologists with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the University of Tennessee (UT) Extension, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) want to remind landowners that protecting and maintaining quality habitat will be the key to having wildlife on their property, especially during drought conditions. “Many landowners and tenant farmers mow their fields this time of year with little thought to habitat management or adverse impacts on wildlife,” says TWRA biologist Aubrey Deck.

According to Deck, many people mow entire fields after seeing just a few saplings or tall weeds. Wildlife experts say it is better to preserve habitat by using more cost-effective and wildlife friendly techniques like selective herbicide application, prescribed burning, and strip disking on non-erosive areas as a means of maintaining fields and wildlife habitat rather than mowing. Mowing during drought conditions in late summer or early fall doesn’t allow time for re-growth of essential winter habitat.

“If landowners are interested in bobwhites and want to see more birds this fall, then mowing existing cover between now and then is the last thing they want to do,” says Dr. Craig Harper, Extension Wildlife Specialist with UT. “Additional birds in the fall are a product of brood survival. If quality cover is destroyed now, you can expect predation rates to increase dramatically and fall covey numbers to drop as a result.”

NRCS biologist Mike Hansbrough agrees. “What landowners fail to realize is mowing is rarely needed or advised. Better options for field management exist.” Hansbrough says it is critical to allow native grasses and interspersed shrubby areas to remain unmowed for quality quail cover. “Unfortunately, many times these are the first places that are mowed,” he adds.

Biologists want to emphasize that native grasses and brushy areas, known as covey headquarters in overgrown fields, are critical habitat components. Covey headquarters are typically composed of sumac, plum saplings, and briars. This cover helps quail and other wildlife escape the summer heat and serves as important security cover from predators in fall and winter. This year’s drought has limited the growth of important habitat types. Consequently, protecting habitat from mowing will be critical to many species. Hansbrough sums it up this way: “Wildlife enthusiasts need to keep the mower in the shed.”