Monday, May 6, 2013

Land Management Resources for New Landowners


Recently, a new landowner contacted me, having questions about native grassland restoration, bobwhite management, and techniques to reduce feral hogs.  I thought our correspondence might be helpful to others in their search for land management resources.

Hello Mr. XXXX,
I want to provide you with several resources for native grassland restoration and, feral hog and quail management.  Perhaps this note will help save you time in your hunt for resources. 

Native Grassland Restoration and Monitoring:
You will find 2 attached publications that will be helpful, 1) Native Grassland Restoration in the Middle Trinity River Basin [released this week] and 2) Habitat Restoration in the Middle Trinity River Basin

Also, find 3 videos on our WFSC AgriLife YouTube Channel that will be helpful (Available Resources for Landowners, Rangeland Measurement Techniques, Rangeland Monitoring Techniques.  Keep watching our YouTube Channel, as we have new videos describing implements and their uses in wildlife food plots, coming soon. 

Look to see how Trinity Waters, a group of landowners to the south of you, mix row crop, livestock, water, and wildlife management.  My shop has helped this group gain its organizational capacity of the last few years.  We help relay land management information.
·       Trinity Waters website – good background on this group of landowners; resource library; calendar showing many of our seminars and more
·       Trinity Waters Facebook – another way to let the world know about our work
·       Trinity Waters Twitter - timely notices about land and water management
·       Trinity Waters Scoop.it – we search the web and present resources that will be an interest to you (looks like a newspaper or newsletter)

Bobwhite:
·       You will find 1 publication, Habitat Monitoring for Quail on Texas Rangelands.  You may also search the AgriLife Bookstore for subjects (bobwhite, quail, etc.) Publications are often low cost or free. 
·       Look to our WFSC AgriLife YouTube Channel again for many videos on quail management done by my colleague Dr. Dale Rollins (search the bookstore by his name also).
·       Look to TEXNAT for key quail plants and much more.
·       Team quail many good resources

Feral Hogs:
·       See the Feral Hog Community of PracticeI serve as the leader of this group that now involves 27 states and ~50 people contributing information (50+ articles, 100+ frequently asked questions and more) and our Feral Hog Facebook .  
·       You will also find 4 past feral hog webinars we did, which can be viewed at eXtension Learn
·       See our Coping with Feral Hogs website done by my colleague Dr. Billy Higginbotham
·       See our many feral hog videos (with more to come) WFSC AgriLife YouTube Channel
·       We have lots of AgriLife Extension publications that will be useful to you in the fight against feral hogs (download from AgriLife Bookstore)

o   Feral Hog Population Growth, Density, and Harvest in Texas.  SP-472, Pp. 1-8.
o   Lone star healthy streams:  feral hog manual.  B-6256, Pp. 1-40.
o   Feral hogs negatively affect native plant communities.  SP-467, Pp. 1-9.
o   Using fences to exclude feral hogs from wildlife feeding stations. L-5533, Pp. 1-4.
o   Recognizing Feral Hog Sign.  L-5523 Pp. 1-4.
o   Corral traps for capturing feral hogs.  Publication L-5524Pp. 1-6.
o   Box traps for capturing feral hogs.  L-5525 Pp. 1-4.
o   Placing and baiting feral hog traps.  L-5526 Pp. 1-4.
o   Door modifications for feral hog traps.  L-5527 Pp.1-4.
o   Snaring feral hogs.  L-5528 Pp. 1-4.
o   Making a feral hog snare.  L-5529 Pp. 1-4.
o   Feral hog transportation regulations SP-432 Pp. 1-2.
o   Feral hogs and disease concerns SP-421 Pp. 1-2.
o   Feral hogs impact ground-nesting birds SP-419 Pp. 1-2.
o   Feral hog laws and regulations in Texas SP-420 Pp. 1-2.
o   Feral hogs and water quality in Plum Creek SP-422 Pp 1-2.

In addition to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife have good resources for projects like yours.  Give me a call if you have questions and of course see our work at Wild Wonderings Blog and of course our main page Wildlife and Fisheries Extension Unit.