Urban areas can support abundant wildlife with buffer strips, riparian areas

Andy Qualls
Muskogee County Conservation District

June 27, 2007 05:24 pm

— Editor’s note: This is Part Two of a two-part series. Part One was published Wednesday.
In every case when wildlife habitat is improved, wildlife populations increase.
For most landowners there is a deep appreciation and enjoyment when they realize that they can use the land, preserve it for future generations and still share the land with wildlife in a productive sustainable manner.
In most cases, especially in the areas of Muskogee County that are used as farmland or grassland, riparian areas are frequent or permanent homes for a very large percentage of the wildlife in the area. In areas where riparian areas are continuously grazed or cleared of the trees and native grass buffers, little if any wildlife use the areas and almost always they are in a state of decline with eroded banks, decreased forage production and offer no protection for erosion of farm fields and pastures or protection of water quality.
When properly managed, even flood plains can produce large amounts of forage and be hayed or grazed as long as proactive measures are taken to protect livestock and baled hay from flooding if it occurs.
Some of the best-case scenarios that I have seen are areas that are fenced for several hundred feet on each side of the creek, with large trees along the creek bank, smaller woody plants and understory plants in the fringe area of the larger trees and with native grasses filling in the remainder of the area. It is possible by selection of plants that are “friendly” to individual species of wildlife to influence the species of wildlife that are attracted to the area.
Buffer strips and riparian areas also promote opportunities for wildlife in urban areas.

Info
Information on managing riparian areas;
• Muskogee County Conservation District, 682-3478.
• USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, 682-8831 Ext.3.
• OSU Extension, 686-7200.

Although in recent years there has been discussion about traffic hazards caused by increased deer populations, much of the increased risk could be due to increased traffic in rural areas and urban buildup in areas where wildlife are being crowded out. The undesirable alternative to co-existing with wildlife is to destroy it, and the quickest way to destroy wildlife is to eliminate the habitat.
I do not wish to live in a world where the most significant effect that man has had on the earth is to destroy the environment or the creatures that were created to share it with us. Buffer zones in urban area have the additional benefit of absorbing excess pollutants and nutrients instead of allowing them to pass on the rivers, lakes and streams.
In some cases “water gardens” which are basically vegetative buffers are being used in cities to protect the environment from contaminants and pollution that is present in runoff from parking lots and other urban areas. By absorbing and slowing down the runoff from urban areas, plants and natural processes are allowed to decrease the overall concentration of pollutants entering the environment.
Creeks and streams managed properly will result in a low-maintenance, high-productivity ecosystem, in which a large variety of plant and animal species can not only survive but prosper while sustaining the beauty and productivity of the area. There is a certain satisfaction in being able to spend a few moments on a fall evening watching some deer browse on the edge of a field or glimpse a bobcat slipping quietly through the leaves on land that you have protected for the benefit of all.