NORTH DAKOTA OUTDOORS MAGAZINE

WMA Grassland Restoration

Ron Wilson

What separates the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s more than 200 owned or managed wildlife management areas is townships, counties, miles.

What makes the 200,000-plus WMA acres found across the state similar is a concentrated effort to improve wildlife habitat and provide opportunities for hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts.

Robert W. Henderson WMA, located just 6 miles east of Bismarck, is a good example of this effort.

Five years ago, 100 acres of the roughly 550-acre WMA was a mat of Kentucky bluegrass.

“The bluegrass got to be about 6- to 10-inches tall then it just matted itself out,” said Levi Jacobson, Department wildlife resource management supervisor in Bismarck, of the land that was previously farmed.

“We were grazing it aggressively to try and bust through some of that and bring some of the native plants back and we just weren’t gaining ground.

So, we had the neighboring landowner come in and farm it for three years with soybeans, corn and soybeans again.”

After the last harvest, Jacobson and crew in May 2022 planted a diverse, native mix of 13 forbs and 10 grasses to mimic the native prairie that once dominated the landscape.

“The first year it was planted it was really dry and we didn’t know how successful the planting would be as it often takes a couple years to express vegetation above ground as most of the growth is put into establishing roots,” Jacobson said.

“And then this year, with all the moisture it really blew up and looks really good.”

Earlier in summer, some of the native species were shoulder-high and taller, with an impressive undergrowth.

The wildlife in the area, from deer to pheasants, to many other bird species, should benefit.

“We try to go heavy on the forbs and the wildflowers because those are going to produce food and the grass is going to provide a lot the cover,” Jacobson said.

Bill Haase (left) and Levi Jacobson

Bill Haase (left) and Levi Jacobson, both with the Game and Fish Department, stand in the waist-high and taller forbs and grasses at Robert W. Henderson Wildlife Management Area near Bismarck.

“The forbs bring in the insects.

Those pheasant chicks, in this quality brood rearing habitat, need insects for the first few weeks of their life.”

While the native species have thrived at Henderson and other WMAs thanks to timely rains in spring and summer, Bill Haase, Department assistant wildlife division chief, knows that Mother Nature is unpredictable in any given season.

“We know we are going to get droughts, but the beauty of these native species is that the root systems go really deep into the ground,” Haase said.

“And that’s the difference between these native species and, say, Kentucky bluegrass or some other invasive species where that root is only maybe just 6 inches … it’s a big difference.

The hope is that these native species outcompete those other species and withstand droughts and tough conditions.”

North Dakota’s native prairies are a vanishing, yet a vital component on the state’s landscape.

The habitat at Henderson WMA was in ideal shape for this hen pheasant and her brood earlier in summer.

But, Haase stressed, once native prairies are broken, we never truly get them back.

“There’ll be hundreds of species that are naturally existing on those native prairies, so we’re trying to mimic what was lost,” he said.

“Even so, we planted just 23 species here in an effort to get back to what it looked like in its native state, but we’ll never quite get back there.

That’s something to keep in mind.

It’s important to wildlife, the Department and hopefully sportsmen and women to maintain those native prairies on the landscape because they’re disappearing.”

While that has been somewhat of a neverending battle as more than 75% of the state’s native grasslands have been lost over time, the Department continues its effort to enhance wildlife habitat on WMAs around the state.

“Plant diversity and adequate cover are essential for our WMAs.

Invasive cool season grass species, such as Kentucky bluegrass and smooth brome, continue to invade our grasslands and often choke out other species, leaving a monoculture of poor habitat,” Jacobson said.

“And once that happens, wildlife reproduction is really limited as well as hunting opportunities.

There’s not much that’s going to stay in a couple inches of short grass while you’re out hunting.

So, these diverse, big, tall stands of grass are pretty important.”

“There’ll be hundreds of species that are naturally existing on those native prairies, so we’re trying to mimic what was lost.” - Bill Haase

Like at other WMAs, Jacobson said the Department works with ranchers who graze a portion of the WMA every year.

“The cattle are rotated through different paddocks every couple weeks, which allows time for vegetation to recover and provide regrowth for the fall hunting season,” he said.

While what’s going on at Henderson is a good thing for wildlife that need this type of habitat in all months of the year to complete their life cycles, more of this is needed in a state that is 93% privately owned.

“This is certainly something a private landowner can do, and we have programs in the Game and Fish Department, or other programs through other agencies, to help those landowners out,” Haase said.

“While our PLOTS program requires public access, there are others that don’t.

For those landowners who are looking to put some areas that aren’t as productive for crop production back into grass, which they can utilize it for haying or livestock production, there are a lot of programs for that as well.”

While the newish 100-acre planting at Henderson certainly safeguarded whitetail fawns during the warmer months and offered a buffet of insects for pheasant chicks zig zagging through the undergrowth, Jacobson said the native plant species will continue to show their worth when winter snow arrives during the leaner months.

“Before the grassland renovation, you couldn’t have hidden a field mouse,” Haase said.

“The fruits of the labor will be seen no matter the time of year.”

Return to North Dakota Outdoors October 2024 Edition