Land Managers
Best Management Practices for Public Land Managers
Best Management Practices for Golf Courses
Many areas have the potential to provide excellent Red-headed Woodpecker habitat.
- Golf courses
- Park lands
- Urban forests
- Large cemetaries
Golf courses and parks have shown real success in supporting red-head populations. In studies of nesting populations, the following characteristics of successful habitat have emerged.
- Large trees. These may be hardwoods or pines. Red-heads are very opportunistic.
- A park-like low density of trees.
- An open understory.
- A good number of mast trees, producing nuts and acorns. Oaks, hickory, beech.
- Good availability of trees with dead limbs or dead trees. That is, "wildlife trees".
The key feature is wildlife trees. Current practices generally call for immediate removal of decadent trees. Instead, if some of these dead trees and limbs can be preserved, there is a much better chance of increased diversity. Look upon loss of trees to storm, flood or drought as an opportunity to selectively improve wildlife habitat.
Please contact us with any questions. We can work with you to assess your land's potential and to identify specific studies that support preservation of wildlife trees.