Landowners considering property improvements designed to benefit local wildlife often focus on planting fast-growing food plots that can deliver a near-instant draw.
12,500 acres of land are open for public access in the Loess Canyon area of Nebraska, thanks in part to the contributions from the National Wild Turkey Federation and a variety of other partners to Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s via the Canyon Access Initiative.
NWTF Alabama chapter, the Choccolocco Valley Longbeards, planted 10 acres of wildlife openings in the Ivory Mountain Walk-in Turkey Hunting Area (IMWTH) in Cleburne County, Alabama.
The National Wild Turkey Federation and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks are collaborating to improve habitat and hunting quality in the Charles Ray Nix Wildlife Management Area.
The National Wild Turkey Federation and the Missouri Department of Conservation teamed up to improve and increase open lands and wild turkey brood habitat at the Truman Reservoir, an area experiencing low hatch rates.
Every hunter knows that the availability of natural mast such as acorns and other nuts is vital to the overall health of the wildlife in any given area.
The restoration efforts at Ramsey Lake State Park also contributed to an increase in forbs, wildflowers and native grasses that will thrive with the added sunlight to the forest floor.
Access to your favorite hunting spot can be as valuable as the gold in Fort Knox. The trails, whether they are large enough for your 4x4 or simple walking trails, have a great importance for the overall usability and value of your property.
In the last decade, concerns have been raised, and a number of studies have been conducted to try to evaluate the impact of treated seed on birds when the seed is eaten.
Donnie Buckland, NWTF’s grasslands and agricultural manager, explained what high grading is and why this practice is a problem for hunters and land managers.
The NWTF partnered with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to improve habitat for Eastern wild turkeys in the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina’s Low Country.
The phrase “cut-back borders” may not be familiar to many NWTF members, but it is a management tool that can provide major benefits for wild turkeys, as well as other game and nongame animals.
The NWTF partnered with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and the Cherokee National Forest to create habitat openings for wildlife across 1,249 acres in the Tellico and Ocoee districts of the Cherokee National Forest. The NWTF provided tractor implements to achieve these openings.
The NWTF partnered with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the USDA Forest Service to enhance oak forest health and savanna habitats on 255 total acres of land across southwestern Michigan.
The NWTF collaborated with the USDA Forest Service and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on the Frenchtown Face Project – a project just west of Missoula, Montana, focused on prescribed burning and thinning ground cover in the Lolo National Forest to help wildlife and improve habitat.
We worked closely with other conservation and forestry organizations to build strong recommendations to ensure that the 2018 Farm Bill contains strong conservation and forestry titles that benefit farmers, forest landowners and the outdoor community.
Tools and techniques include hand-felling with chainsaws, lopping and scattering, girdling and mechanical piling to remove ponderosa pine and spruce from within and around aspen, birch and bur oak stands in the Sugarloaf project area.
What our volunteers — alongside our partners — are accomplishing is not only imperative for the wild turkey and countless other species but also for the continuation of our hunting heritage.
Pollination is the basis for important wildlife habitats and human food crops, but pollinator species populations (bees, butterflies, birds) are declining.
The NWTF and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collaborated on a prescribed burn project at the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge to improve pine and pine-hardwoods habitats.
The work, performed in the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge, involved treating 50 acres with herbicide to control advancement by unwanted hardwoods and woody plants in 2017 and the reintroduction of prescribed fire in 2018 on 190 acres.
The NWTF’s Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. initiative is now focused on maintaining those healthy, sustainable and huntable wild turkey populations for generations to come. An important part of doing that is active habitat management, which includes the use of prescribed burning or prescribed fire.
Want to create an eye-catching sight and help wildlife at the same time? Convert that empty field or part of your sprawling lawn into a dazzling wildflower meadow.
John D. Burk, NWTF district biologist for Missouri and Illinois, said the NWTF and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have worked to re-establish open woodland areas at Siloam Springs State Park in Adams and Brown counties and Hidden Springs State Park in Shelby County.
Having a professional land manager analyze the vegetation on a property will quickly reveal how prevalent invasive species have become across the landscape.
“But when those three don’t produce, a turkey will feed opportunistically on just about any soft-mast food it can find. Chances are, turkeys will eat anything that looks like a berry.”
“So be aware of your surroundings when walking the edges of a field or when mowing a field, you never know where a hen might be brooding,” Buckland said.
Acorns and other tree mast attract turkeys and other wildlife year-round, especially in early fall as animals build their fat reserves leading up to winter.
Well-managed forests create better habitat for all wildlife. Learn how to improve wild turkey habitat on your property and help make a difference for habitat conservation.
