Cornell Department of Natural Resources |
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Kristi L. Sullivan and Stephen J. Morreale |
Forest Wildlife Habitat Enhancements
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Add dead wood. Create brush piles or leave cut treetops to provide cover for rabbits, birds, and small mammals. Leave logs and stumps lying on the forest floor to provide shelter for salamanders and small mammals.
- Retain or add cavity trees and snags. Cavities in trees are used by many species of birds, mammals, and reptiles and amphibians. Retain a combination of both living and dead cavity trees with cavities of different sizes.
- Add or retain evergreens such as hemlock, white pine, and rhododendron to provide cover from snow and winter winds, and supply nest sites for birds in the summer.
- Keep or build rock piles, and maintain open hillslopes with exposed flat rocks. Snakes, skinks, and lizards, as well as other animals use these areas as hiding places and basking sites.
- Spring seeps are areas where groundwater comes to the surface. Because groundwater temperature remains above freezing seeps often remain free of snow throughout most of the winter, providing access to vegetation and insect larvae. The wild turkey relies on spring seeps for winter food when snowfall is heavy.
- Vernal pools are small wetlands that are often shallow and may dry up in the summer or fall. Because they cannot support predatory fish, these pools are critical breeding areas for many northeastern species like spotted salamanders, spadefoot toads, and wood frogs, which court and lay eggs in these ponds then return to the forest for the rest of the year. Despite their small size, vernal pools also provide a rich supply of food for many organisms.