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Fencerows: A Disappearing Habitat
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It is not always the “in your face” type of alterations to our natural landscape, resulting from urban sprawl, that can dramatically affect wildlife populations. Sometimes it is the more subtle changes to our natural areas that can have a profound effect on many wildlife species.
Over the past several decades, the changing agriculture climate (e.g., economics, the need for improved efficiencies, larger equipment, etc.) has resulted in a decline in the number of fencerows across southern Ontario.
Fencerows are one of the most important wildlife habitat components in southern Ontario’s agriculture dominated landscape. Fencerows provide food and shelter for a wide variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. They also provide protected escape and travel corridors for wildlife movement between two larger areas of forest cover.
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Fencerows
“When we are talking fencerows, by the way, we’re not discussing strands of barb wire or stretches of stock fence with no grass beneath. A wildlife fencerow, which may or may not include an actual fence, is a natural border, a strip of forbs, shrubs, and trees that can sometimes be too thick to walk through.”
Ron Doolen
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| “Many people do not realize how important fencerows are to wildlife. Results show that 12 different bird species use herbaceous fencerows. When the fencerows contained scattered trees and shrubs, the number of bird species increased to 38. Those planted to continuous trees and shrubs attracted 48 species. Similarly, Michigan researchers found the density and diversity of bird nests increased as the number of fencerow shrubs increased because the shrubs added habitat variety through layers of understory structure.” — Managing Michigan Wildlife: A Landowner’s Guide. |
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From left to right – here one day, gone the next. This group of small fencerows near Kemptville, Ontario, was one of several removed over a six-month period to facilitate the amalgamation of four smaller fields into one large field.
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The most beneficial fencerows to wildlife have a multi-layer structure consisting of a row of trees and a lower layer of dense, mixed shrubs and grasses on either side. As a general rule, the wider the fencerow, the better (i.e., a woody fencerow of 9 to10 m or wider provides the best opportunity for habitat diversity).
Managing Your Fencerows
The type of management practices that you employ will either encourage or discourage certain wildlife species. This is why you should include the management of your fencerows as a component of your overall woodlot management plan. By outlining the type of wildlife habitat you are trying to create in your management plan, you can then easily match your activities to meet these specific wildlife objectives.
Here are a few management activities that you may want to undertake for fencerows:
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- If space is available, it is recommended that fencerows be at least 9 to 10 m wide. A wider fencerow with a mix of woody (e.g., trees, shrubs) and herbaceous (grasses, weeds) components provides the best recipe for wildlife habitat – for nesting, rearing young, food, protection and escape.
- To maintain a mosaic of diverse habitat, consider undertaking selective mowing, cutting and/or burning within the fencerow. This will assist in providing wildlife with varying heights and layers of grassy vegetation.
- By creating rock piles within the fencerow, you can provide protective hiding places for reptiles and small mammals.
- As a fencerow matures, some trees may die. Remember, dead trees also offer valuable wildlife habitat and are often best left standing instead of utilizing them as firewood. A dead tree also provides an opening in the fencerow canopy, allowing light to reach the ground and stimulating shrub growth.
- Consider building brush piles every 30 to 90 m along the length of the fencerow for smaller wildlife to use to escape predators.
- Remember, always keep your objectives in mind because not all management practices are compatible. For example, mowing and burning may increase the habitat mosaic of the lower grasses (as noted above); however, it may be to the detriment of the establishment of other components of the fencerow (e.g., shrubs, small saplings, etc.).
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