NGRREC’s Team Working to Assist Landowners Diversify Habitat

by Justin J. Shew, Nicole M. Gray | February 1, 2019 | Land

Three ATV's filled with gear for a prescribed fire. A group of people wearing protective clothing for prescribed fires are standing behind the ATV's. The scene is at the edge of a woods on a grassy field.

NGRREC’s Habitat Strike Team partnering for another prescribed fire. Photo by Nicole Gray

Illinois is home to 4.9 million acres of forest land and more than 87,000 miles of rivers and streams that provide resources to both residents and wildlife. The state is well known by hunters all over the country for its population of white-tailed deer. It sounds great, except there’s a catch. More than 95 percent of the land in Illinois is privately owned, leaving few resources for outdoor enthusiasts to access public outdoor recreation.

The Illinois Recreational Access Program (IRAP), created by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) with grant support from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Volunteer Public Access – Habitat Improvement Program (NRCS VPA-HIP), fulfills this need by coordinating public access on private lands for outdoor enthusiasts. Thousands of adults and hundreds of youth hunters have accessed the 19,600 acres of private land leased from Illinois landowners since the program began in 2011. Enrolled landowners allow controlled public access to their property for select activities that include fishing, archery deer, youth turkey and waterfowl hunting. In exchange, the landowners receive monetary incentives, liability coverage, habitat management plans and assistance with habitat restoration projects from the Habitat Strike Teams (HST).

Two men and one woman dressed in outdoors gear. — The NGRREC Southern Illinois Habitat Strike Team (HST), which directly supports IDNR’s Illinois Recreational Access Program (IRAP). Left to right – Cody Berry (Junior Assistant), Thomas Ladson (Senior Assistant), Nicole Gray (HST Coordinator).

The southern Illinois HST, which is comprised of Nicole Gray, Thomas Ladson and Cody Berry, is funded by a partnership agreement between IDNR and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), which is directly affiliated with Lewis and Clark Community College (LCCC; Godfrey). This unique partnership not only supports the dedicated HST, but also bolsters NGRREC’s research and education mission. The HST has hosted interns from LCCC’s Restoration Ecology Program and NGRREC’s summer internship program. These students have gained relevant experience in habitat management and research experience assessing the effects of management on vegetation and wildlife. HST members Gray and Berry are both products of LCCC’s Restoration Ecology Program.

An individual cutting down a tree with a chain saw. — Nicole Gray (HST Coordinator) conducting timber stand improvement (TSI) on an IRAP property. Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and maple (Acer spp.) are common trees that are selectively thinned on properties to release oaks (Quercus spp.) from competition. Note: essential chainsaw safety gear – helmet/mask/ear protection, long-sleeved shirt, gloves, chaps, and rugged boots. Photo credit: Brian Stoff

The key responsibility of the HST is habitat management, where they use their practical restoration knowledge to help landowners improve their land for wildlife. More than 11,000 acres of habitat projects have been completed by NGRREC’s HST which includes:

Invasive species control
Prescribed burning
Timber stand improvement (TSI) and brush management
Grass and tree planting
Pollinator habitat establishment

A small fire clearing brush in a forest. — HST conducting an early-spring prescribed fire. In addition to foliar spraying, prescribed fire is a common management practice used to injure and kill invasive bush honeysuckle (i.e. Lonicera maakii, the leafing-out species pictured here). Photo credit: Brian Stoff

The HST’s primary management objective is to eliminate exotic invasive vegetation on properties, particularly in woodland habitats, and the most commonly known and abundant offender is bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maakii), which can suppress understory native flora. One of the most common methods used to combat invasive plants is foliar (i.e. leaves) application of herbicides with backpacks full of glyphosate or, if accessible, a gas-powered sprayer mounted to a UTV. Prescribed fire is another effective tool used by the HST in suppressing invasive woody vegetation while promoting oak regeneration, releasing other herbaceous natives from competition, and reducing fuel buildup. Ultimately, the HST uses a variety of management strategies to foster more open canopy and floristically diverse woodlands as opposed to closed canopy forests. There is rarely a “silver bullet” management prescription to improve wildlife habitat, and often a sustained and varied management approach is most successful.

Justin J. Shew is the Conservation Program Manager at NGRREC and has specific interests in wildlife and applied ecology research as it relates to state and federal conservation programs. He conducted his most recent graduate work through Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory on grassland bird response to policy-based management and multi-scale factors.

Nicole M. Gray is the Habitat Project Coordinator for the IRAP Habitat Strike Team based at NGRREC. She is a graduate of the Lewis and Clark Community College – Restoration Ecology Program, an Illinois Certified Prescribed Burn Manager and an advocate for the practice of land management that promotes native plant communities.