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PORT KENT — Forestry-management practices at Wickham Marsh Wildlife Management Area may look unsightly right now, but state officials believe the work will improve wildlife diversity there.
Wickham Marsh, a popular area for hiking, hunting and other outdoor activities, includes no fewer than 17 kinds of ecological communities, ranging from marshland to northern hardwood forests, which offer many options for the area's wildlife.
Biologists and foresters from the Department of Environmental Conservation's Ray Brook office recently clear-cut two five-acre sections of forest along the upper ridge of the marsh near the Route 374 trailhead to promote a more productive ecosystem at those locations.
BARE SPOT
"It's called a wildlife clearing or wildlife opening," DEC wildlife biologist John O'Connor said as he stood at the edge of one of those newly created clearings.
Dozens of stumps and some scattered tree limbs were the only reminder that, until recently, the clearing had been a thick forest of oak and pine trees comparable to the wooded areas surrounding them.
"All we're trying to do is set the land back to secondary succession," O'Connor explained. "It may not look like much of anything right now, but come back in a year and this will be a thriving open community."
STARTING OVER
Ecological succession refers to the stages of plant growth within a certain area.
When land is cleared — either through human management or naturally through wildfires or other disturbances — it goes through a series of changes, from basic plants, like lichens and mosses, to weeds and grasses, shrubs and eventually back to trees.
"Its layer (of succession) has advantages for wildlife," O'Connor said. "With the pitch-pine and oak forest (that was originally on the spot), there's not a lot there for wildlife to eat. Next year, we expect this area to be very active with wildlife."
"As a forest grows older, the upper canopy gets thicker, and you don't have any understory for the wildlife," added Dan Levy, DEC senior forester, who oversaw the week-long management project.
"There's not a lot of food available for deer in a pitch-pine/oak forest."
BOOST FOR WILDLIFE
The ring of trees surrounding the two cleared areas provides wildlife with plenty of cover, while the new growth that will develop in the cleared areas will attract many new species of insects, birds and mammals, they said.
"Next summer, this will be covered with wildflowers," O'Connor said. "With lots of pollen, that will attract lots of insects, which, in turn, will attract lots of birds. It should become quite a location for bird-watching."
The improved diversity will also promote an increase in predators such as coyotes, weasels and bobcats, he added.
Then, in a few years, a new layer of shrubs will represent a wealth of food sources for deer and other mammals.
ACTING FOR NATURE
Management such as clear cutting select areas is needed for diversity because many of the natural tools, such as wildfires, are no longer prominent events in areas like the 862-acre Wickham Marsh.
DEC has taken over the role of natural succession to promote a stronger habitat.
The agency used a similar technique last year at Lake Alice in Chazy to promote ecological succession at that popular outdoor attraction. Fields that were cleared there a year ago were alive with vegetation this summer, O'Connor noted.
"This is one of the best things that can be done to improve wildlife diversity," Levy said. "Clear cutting has gotten a lot of negative publicity, but this kind of management is a big benefit to the wildlife community."
DEC officials also cleared a four-acre section of forest near the other trailhead to Wickham Marsh near Lake Champlain.
Whereas the two cleared sections on the upper ridge will be left alone to recover by themselves, the lower section will be closely managed as a grassy field to promote waterfowl nesting.
E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com
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