This has been a fabulous fall for conservation work, and I spent the last six to eight weeks with a variety of needed preparations for the coming spring. These include mowing fire breaks and seeding grasses.
If you intend to do a prescribed fire in the spring, you need to do all of the preparations before the snow flies.
I mowed about five miles of burn breaks so that when the temperatures warm in the spring, the cut grass areas will green up much faster and provide a suitable break in the grass to keep the fire from creeping into places you do not intend to burn.
Mowing in the fall is even better if you can rake the mowed vegetation off the path. Many folks make the mistake of raking the debris into the burn area. They think this will allow the dry grass to burn when the fire is started.
The problem this causes is the pile of grass 12 inches deep or more will smolder for a really long time when you light the fire in late April or early May. Always rake or use a leaf blower to move that material to the outside of the intended burn area.
Most folks who do small burns use an ATV or side-by-side. Also keep in mind that 25 to 50 gallons of water get used up pretty fast trying to reach a smoldering ember 12 inches deep in a debris pile.
I also did some volunteer work for the Minnesota DNR and did some burn breaks for them on state wildlife management areas. You need a special permit to help out in this way and, mine took three years to get.
If the burn breaks are not completed, the burns will not be done the following spring.
Spring prescribed fires are the most successful to improve habitat conditions with the reduction of volunteer trees and setting back the undesirable cool season grass species. I also mowed all of the parking areas on these hunting spots in my county.
Another big project that needs to be done in the fall for best results is native grass seedings. Seed is spread on the ground after the soil temperatures cool to a point where nothing will germinate. A snow packs the seeds to the ground and good germination is the result.
Seeding can be done in the spring, but you would need to run a packer over it for best results, and the snow actually does a better job. Many people fear that a fall dormant seeding will allow the seeds to blow away in a big wind. I did 65 acres last fall, and the wind blew 50 mph for three days afterward, but the spot came up just great.
I took on the biggest project that I have ever done, and it took every free moment in the month of November after work hours and on the weekends to complete. Most CRP seeding areas are pretty small. Sixty acres on private land would be considered on the large side. I recently completed a 455-acre seeding in the month of November, and it took over 100 hours and 10 days to complete.
There were over 6,500 pounds of seed that needed to be applied at a rate of 13.46 pounds per acre. It takes a GPS and some specialized equipment to do this kind of work, and I learned the hard way that a spare GPS is a good idea in case one loses battery power.
So, with the big project finished, I started on some smaller ones and finished last Saturday with what will be a beautiful demonstration pollinator spot in conjunction with Pheasants Forever.
There are over 65 species of different flowers and a small number of shorter grass species in the mix.
These native seeding areas take two to three years to really look good. In the first year, native plants spend almost all of their energy putting down root structures, many that are more than 12-15 inches deep in order to allow these plants to survive when many others would perish.
Native plants can withstand drought and floods far better than GMO-modified seeds can.
All that is left to do now is finish out the last couple weeks of the pheasant season and sharpen the tips of my spear for when the ice is thick enough to start chasing the elusive Northern Pike. I will keep you in the loop on that in a future column.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.