Your Habitat Management Plan should include an inventory of current desirable and undesirable trees, shrubs, and vines on your property. Additionally, include a listing of those new trees, shrubs, and vines you would like to add — including how and where you want to plant them. In a well-balanced plan, it is not just a matter of adding things — you must also subtract things. As an early step in your action plan, you need to address the issue of invasive plants and how to eliminate them on your property. Some of this work can be accomplished throughout the winter months while there is snow on the ground to aid in seeing the plants you want to eradicate, but spraying herbicides can best be accomplished over the next month or two.
Eliminating the Invasive Plants:
Over the years, government agencies and well-intended organizations have offered free seedlings of autumn olive, Tartarian honeysuckle, barberry, and multiflora rose to be planted for wildlife habitat improvement. Since their introduction, each of these species has spread, sometimes completely taking over fallow fields and forest openings. Today, each one of these species is listed as a non-native invasive plant that should be eradicated wherever possible.
Over the winter months, while snow is on the ground and before grasses and other vegetation push up, these invasive plants are easily spotted wherever they are popping up in fields or along field edges. During the summer months, especially when there is a lack of rain, the ground will harden, making it more difficult to remove some of the larger and more mature plants mechanically; thus, spraying may be a better option. Further, once these undesirable plants are removed, you can plant new shrubs and trees that will provide much better wildlife cover and feed.
If the plants are small enough, mowing them with a brush hog will keep them in check and, over time, begin to eliminate them altogether. If the plants are larger and have developed a larger woody stem, they may be removable using a chain or cable and an ATV or tractor to pull them out. If they are really large and otherwise unmanageable, you will probably have to resort to chemicals to eliminate them.
The most effective way to clear out the large invasive plants is to cut them off at the base or trunk at ground level and apply a small amount of Roundup or Garlon 4 on the stump. It takes very little of the herbicide to stop any future growth and kill the plant. While I hesitate to recommend chemical treatments, using these herbicides is very effective as a last resort in killing each invasive species we try to eliminate. While the majority of these invasive species will be found in field settings or along forest edges, they can also be found and should be eliminated in woodland settings as well.
Striped Maple and Hay-Scented Fern:
Finally, there are two undesirable species of plants frequently found in the woods and along field edges that we should turn our attention to that should be a target for elimination — the striped maple and the New York or hay-scented fern. Spraying the ferns with Roundup — particularly in July and August, is very effective. For the striped maple, make a nick in the tree’s outer bark with a hatchet or machete and apply two or three drops of Garlon 4 in the opening. It will kill the tree. Between the striped maple and the New York or hay-scented fern, the fern is the more critical to eliminate as it emits a toxin wherever it grows that restricts other plants from growing, and it has no real food or cover value for wildlife.
Eliminating these invasive and encroaching plants is a critical step in any habitat improvement plan. Once they are eliminated, you can turn your attention to developing food plots, creating better field conditions for wildlife, and establishing valuable plantings of shrubs, trees, and vines that will more adequately benefit wildlife of all kinds. Taking the time to subtract the unwanted invasive species will provide you with places to add more desirable trees, shrubs, and vines that will produce valuable food sources for wildlife.
