EP 727: The Million-Plus-Acre Plantation We Created: What's Next? (1/2)

(Part 1/2) More than a million acres of marginal Delta cropland were retired and planted in bottomland hardwoods. Thirty years later, those trees have grown and--if we want to ensure wildlife utilization and habitat quality--the next chapter is serious hardwood management. Wildlife biologist Kevin Nelms explains how changing soils and hydrology shape the new landscape, how timber stand improvement improves wildlife habitat, timber stand improvement techniques, how putting sunlight back onto the ground benefits ducks, deer, songbirds and more. Most importantly, how do landowners, agencies and NGOs accomplish this without a viable hardwood pulp market?  A must-listen episode for bottomland hardwood habitat managers and hunters, but everyone will appreciate gaining insights into taking the extraordinary conservation achievement of a million-acre hardwood plantation to the next level. See related episodes and important resource links below!

IMPORTANT RESOURCES

Habitat Improvements in Hardwood Plantations on Wetland Reserve easements: Landowner Guide (PDF)

Tool for Assessment of Reforested Bottomland Hardwood Stands on Wetland Reserve Easements (PDF)

Wetland Management for Waterfowl: A Handbook

RELATED EPISODES

EP 679. Looking Past the Trees in Ark-La-Miss Delta

EP 691. A New Hardwood Plantation Landscape--Restored Benefits?

EP 694. Duck Habitat Then and Now

EP 696. Restored Hydrology in the Delta

EP 483. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Rethinking "Seed Mentality"

EP 485. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Emergent Marsh Wetlands Magic