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May 1998
I’ve been watching for the woodchuck.
It’s time for them to come out of hibernation and recover from the
winter's fast by eating the young tender greens in meadows, fields and yards.
This season, I am prepared. That is, I am prepared in my attitude.
Some species of wildlife we consider pests because they seem to counter
our efforts to grow things or make our property more attractive. Our yards
provide perfect habitat for species that use clearings or the edges between
meadow, or yard, and forest. Deer, raccoons, skunks, fox and woodchucks all
thrive in these habitats. We make
it more inviting when we plant herbs, grasses, vegetables, flowering plants,
bulbs, tender shrubs and trees. Snakes
are attracted to the moist soil under mulch in our gardens and the sunning
places at the foundations of our houses. Skunks
look for the grubs in soil and often search in newly dug gardens. Also, our yards tend to attract species that can tolerate
human presence to a fair degree.
There are two basic choices for dealing with these conflicts.
You can accept it or you can fight it.
If you accept it, there is no conflict.
If you decide to fight it, you can either manage the wildlife or manage
the habitat. Usually, managing the
wildlife means excluding or some combination of trapping, relocating, or
killing. Trapping is not the first
choice for a number of reasons. Rabies
now makes trapping a potential hazard for the trapper.
Also, trapping and relocating may not really be “having a heart,”
because many species when relocated have a poor chance of survival.
Perhaps the most powerful reason for choosing to manage the habitat
rather than the wildlife is that, if the habitat is good for a species, when you
remove an individual animal, another individual will move in.
I have never liked the feeling of butting my head against the
metaphorical brick wall, so I am slow to decide there is a conflict.
When I do, I work to manage the habitat to limit the damage or annoyance.
The first step is to read up on the natural history of the animal. Food
and cover are two requirements for any wildlife species.
Learning about an animal’s preferences helps to identify practices that
may reduce some conflicts. For example, wood piles or stacks of lumber near your house
provide cover for mice and snakes. Feeding
birds attracts skunks, mice and squirrels, and feeders close to the house make
conflict between them and you more likely.
Openings in the eaves of buildings are an invitation to squirrels and
bats. It is asking for trouble to
feed pets outdoors or to have uncovered sources of food in the garage or shed.
Mulching right up to tree trunks provides cover for mice and voles while
they gnaw tender bark.
For woodchucks, there are several points of interest.
Usually, they range 50 to 150 feet from their den, during the daytime,
eating vegetables, grasses and legumes. They
burrow and they climb. The best,
perhaps the only, way to exclude them from an area is to fence it. Staging
areas, like the space under my old shed where the woodchuck takes cover between
forays to nearby gardens, can be blocked.
We haven’t done any of these things.
That’s where acceptance and my attitude come in.
I share the bounty of my yard with any comers.
The woodchuck’s nibbling of the perennials makes them bushier than they
would be normally. I make sure
there are alternatives that woodchucks like, such as violets, celandine, and
other wildflowers that volunteer at the edges of the yard.
We don’t mow the lawn often in areas the woodchuck frequents, near the
back edge and around the shed, so there are plenty of dandelions and clover,
which they seem to prefer to garden flowers.
I have been known to throw open the window sash in early morning, and
yell out, “Not my campanula!” Surprisingly,
this is effective. The woodchuck goes immediately to the area of lawn not mowed,
and eats there.
I know we’ll never see any sweet corn because of the raccoons. Instead
we grow Indian corn. I get enough for fall decorations and blue jays and
raccoons use the rest.
Last Saturday night when my neighbor was over for coffee, she told me she
has voles. I had the vole fact
sheet in my workbag, and took it out to read to her.
I never realized that the fact sheets were humorous, but we were overcome
with laughter as I read, “Voles are active day and night, year round.
They breed throughout the year.”
I think our laughter was expressing gracious acceptance of the situation.
So, what can we do to manage the conflicts between wildlife’s use of
the habitat and our use of it? It
comes down to what we value and how much we are willing to live and let live,
literally. Every living thing serves its purpose in the ecosystem, even though
we may not be able to say exactly what that purpose is.
We can be as tolerant as we each can be, and, when our tolerance gets
overtaxed, use exclusion and habitat modification to limit damage.
Perhaps most important is to learn about the animal, be compassionate and
make thoughtful decisions. We are
all part of nature!
By Nancy Coverstone (ncstone@umext.maine.edu), University of Maine Extension Educator in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties
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