Northwest
Michigan Pheasants ForeverNorthwest
Michigan Pheasants ForeverLandowners interested in participating in the program should contact the Conservation District office to schedule a site visit to determine project feasibility. If practical, a plan is developed and Habitat Development Agreement is signed. Contractor and materials costs are normally covered 100% by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Seed costs are often covered by other cooperating groups like Pheasants Forever.
Five wetland restoration projects were completed under this program in July. The sites were located in Victory and Hamlin Townships. The Conservation District developed the restoration plans, secured prices for excavation from several contractors, hired a contractor, supervised construction and seeding, and paid the contractor. The landowner is responsible for maintaining the site. Maintenance would include mowing the dikes annually and mowing or burning adjacent grasslands every five years.
Most of this year's seed distribution took place during Mason-Lake Conservation District's Tree Day on April 18. Fifty individuals (up from 35 in 1996) picked up 150 bags of various seed types for wildlife food and cover plantings. Pheasant Forever plantings this year cover approximately 330 acres (up from 250 acres last year) and include the following acres: corn - 130, forage sorghum - 90, Kansas Mix - 50, Michigan Mix - 30, and switchgrass - 30.
Again this year, the quality of plots varies a great deal. However, the corn looks much better this year. The Michigan Mix, a brand new mix offered by Pheasants Forever in Michigan, looks promising. This food mix includes corn, millet, sunflowers and buckwheat and is best planted next to cover plots. It is very competitive with weeds, making it especially beneficial as a wildlife planting. Weeds again were a problem in many plantings especially summer annual grasses (like crabgrass). These are very difficult to control without residual herbicides. The forage and grain sorghum (Kansas Mix) plots, are very spotty and the look quite short even in the better plots. We will look at these again later this summer to see how they fare. Try to attend our field trip on August 11 and check out some of these plots for yourself! Switchgrass, a perennial, was planted by 8 individuals on 30 acres. Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) made up 14 acres of these new seedings. Switchgrass is slow to establish, although some of the acreage is looking very good already.
It is important to contact me this month at 757-3708 with your seed requests. Our chapter has to have requests to National Pheasants Forever September 1. We will try to provide a variety of seed types depending on what is available to us. We would like to again provide switchgrass and possibly wildflowers but may have to limit these because of the price to the chapter. (Due to high demand, switchgrass went from $3.50/lb. in the spring of '96 to $12.00/lb. in '97! We have not received a price for '98 yet.) Please take the time to fill out and return the surveyenclosed in this newsletter so I will have your requests in hand!