Managing Kansas Forests for Wildlife

Kansas Forest Service
Manhattan, Kansas

Kansas forests and woodlands are used by 50 percent of our state's breeding birds. Fourteen of our state-protected animals (threatened and endangered species) are associated with upland forests and 16 with floodplain forests. Clearly, Kansas forests and woodlands provide important wildlife habitat and a variety of cover based on age and species of the trees. However, much can be done to improve wildlife habitat in Kansas forests through management, which will create a variety of cover across the landscape based on age and species of the trees. Kansas Forest Service foresters and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) wildlife biologists are available to help landowners assess their forestland’s wildlife potential in terms of food, shelter, and water. It also helps when forest landowners have identified the specific wildlife they are encouraging since species may have different habitat needs.

Each animal or bird has a specific niche in the forest that may range over several square miles (white-tail deer) or only a couple acres (eastern fox squirrel). A niche is the role or “occupation” the specific critter plays in the forest. The more niches, the more wildlife. Natural events like windstorms and fires create different habitats or forest management can be used to artificially introduce them. The management practices used to create additional habitats depend on the successional stage of the forest. Tree or shrub planting, natural regeneration, thinning, and harvest can all be implemented to improve wildlife habitat.

Successsional stages of a forest are:

Young Forests

Young forests in the seedling/sapling stage can be thinned by removing less desirable wildlife trees like elm and honeylocust and leaving desirable species like oak, hickory, and walnut (hard mast species). Forests in this stage do not have a closed canopy and thus more sunlight reaches the forest floor which encourages blackberry, elderberry, and herbaceous plants that provide browse, forage, and seeds. The five-lined skink, wild turkey, yellow-breasted chat, red bat, grey fox, and bobcat are species that find their niche in young forests.

Immature Forests

Immature forests are defined by some wildlife biologists as having a mixture of sapling and pole-size trees still too young to produce much mast for wildlife. In addition to mast, immature forests also tend to lack grasses, forbs, and shrubs because they have been shaded out by a closed canopy. Tree cavities are often missing. Immature forests can be improved by thinning less desirable species thereby reducing competition for the tree crowns of oak, hickory, and walnut of good form and growth vigor. Downed material from thinning operations can be used to create ground-level cover brush piles 4 to 5 feet tall and 10 to15 feet wide. Any snags (standing dead trees) or den trees (living trees with a cavity in the trunk or limbs) should be retained. The eastern screech owl, brown snake, five-lined skink, summer tanager, little brown myotis, and white-footed mouse are examples of animals that use immature forests.

Mature Forests

Mature forests with small to large saw-timber sized trees are abundant mast producers, generally have several good den trees, and offer moderate browse. Mature forests should be managed to retain den trees, snags, and mast producing trees. Harvesting these stands can create different habitat if needed. Selective harvesting of mature forests mimics storm damage by creating openings in the canopy. These openings will provide a microhabitat of a young forest within the mature forest. Sections of mature forests can also be managed for “old growth.” In those cases, some wildlife biologists suggest a minimum of 15 acres of forest at least 200 feet wide and the older, the better. These stands should have a significant oak component, especially in the “white oak family” (bur oak, post oak, and chinkapin oak) since they can live 150 to 200 years or longer. Some of the oldest forests in Kansas are the Ancient Cross Timbers located in southeast Kansas from Toronto Lake south into Oklahoma and Texas where white oaks range from 250 to 400 years old. Spotted salamander, broadhead skink, gray treefrog, downy woodpecker, ovenbird, Kentucky warbler, gray squirrel, raccoon, and eastern chipmunk are wildlife associated with mature forests.

Snags

As standing dead trees slowly decay, woodpeckers hollow out nest holes which are eventually used by chickadees, kestrels, and screech owls. Many insects are found on snags and provide a food source for birds and other wildlife. Large fallen trees provide important habitat for chipmunks, salamanders, and frogs for up to 50 years. Seven snags per acre of varying sizes will attract a diversity of wildlife. Some examples are listed below.

• Red-headed/pileated woodpeckers -1 snag, 20-inch diameter breast height (dbh)
• American kestrel/flying squirrel - 4 snags, 10- to 20-inch dbh
• Black-capped chickadee/eastern bluebird - 2 snags, 8- to 10-inch dbh

If not enough snags are present, trees may be girdled using a chainsaw by cutting two continuous connecting rings 3 inches apart and 1 to 2 inches deep around the trunk of the tree. Girdles can be made at a height on the trunk convenient for chainsaw operation. Some foresters have experienced quicker kills when girdling from mid-July to mid-September (Arlyn Perky, Crop Tree Management in Eastern Hardwoods, C-2). Diffuse-porous trees such as maple, sycamore, basswood, and cottonwood take longer to die from girdling as opposed to ring-porous species like oak, walnut, locusts, ash, elm, hackberry, hickory, mulberry, and Osage orange.

Den Trees

Most forests do not have a sufficient number of living trees with cavities for nesting and cover for wildlife. Den trees are important because they can provide both cover and food. Oaks are good den trees because they are long lived. White oaks are slower to create cavities due to rot resistance. Hickory, American elm, sycamore, cottonwood, ash, and basswood are also good choices. As with snags, 7 den trees per acre of varying sizes will attract a good mix of wildlife. Again, examples are listed below.

• Barred owls/fox squirrels /raccoons – 1 den tree 20-inch dbh or larger
• Gray squirrels/red-breasted nuthatch – 4 den trees, 10- to 20-inch dbh
• Tufted titmouse/house wrens – 2 den trees, 8- to10-inch dbh

If not enough den trees are available, they can be created by wounding a tree in a variety of ways such as:

• Cut a limb 6 inches from the trunk (the larger the better) on American elm, ash, cottonwood, sycamore, silver maple, or basswood.
• Chop out a 6- by 6-inch section of bark on the trunk of a tree, preferably one with signs of damage or decay.
• Drill a hole at least 2 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep preferably under a limb that exceeds 3 inches in diameter.

Some wildlife biologists suggest creating dens on the south-facing side of trees to provide more winter protection. Bird houses and den boxes are a quicker way to make a den tree and instructions for their construction may be found at the KDWP Web site http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/other_services/wildlife_diversity.

Edges and Openings

Edge is a transition zone between different types of niches such as forestland to cropland or grassland. For this reason they attract a diversity of wildlife species, especially when the edge is at least 30 feet wide with a gradual change from forest, to shrubs, to grass and forbs. Edge can be created by planting shrubs or allowing native plants to naturally regenerate. Sometimes it is necessary to eliminate livestock, mowing, or cultivation for edge to occur.

In most cases, Kansas forests tend to be linear in shape following streams and bordering grass and cropland. However, in some cases where large patches of forestland occur, creating small openings can provide additional niches for wildlife. These openings can range from 1 to 3 acres in size. Some wildlife biologists believe 5 to 10 acres of small openings should occur for every 100 acres of forestland.

It is important to remember that in most cases our forests provide a variety of benefits if we manage them, regardless of whether the primary objective is wildlife, aesthetics, recreation, forest products, or simply to protect nature. The care and attention forest landowners provide to their woodlands directly impacts the well-being of the animals that inhabit them and in my opinion our quality of life.

*Much of the information in this article was obtained from "Forest Management for Missouri Landowners," Missouri Department of Conservation, 2003, and used with permission from the author, Bruce Palmer.

This article is also available in Microsoft Word format.

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Last Modified: 08/05/2008