A Natural Resource Management Guide for the County of Morris A ...

Basic Guidelines for Backyard Wildlife Management
! Provide basic ingredients: food, water, rest area, nest area, plus connections by way of:
Ègreen fences Èbrush piles Èuncultivated plots Èvegetative filter strips
Èstreamside forest Èsnags/dying trees Èfood plots Èwetlands & water areas
Native plant options:
Evergreen Trees Deciduous Trees Deciduous Shrubs Evergreen Shrubs
American Holly Autumn Olive American Cranberry Azalea
Arborvitae Cherry Firethorn Barberry
Columnar Juniper Crabapple Flowering almond Chinese holly
Hinoki False Cypress Flowering Dogwood Gray-stemmed Dogwood Cotoneaster
Pitch Pine Hawthorn Highbush Blueberry Inkberry
Red Cedar Hickory Multiflora Rose Northern Bayberry
Scrub Pine Mountain Ash Neigela
Shortleaf Pine Oak Raspberry Vines
Spruce Osage Orange Silky Dogwood Amur Honeysuckle
White Pine Red Maple Spirea Bittersweet
Red Osier Dogwood Sumac Japanese Honeysuckle
Russian Olive
Tatarian Honeysuckle
Sassafras
Virginia Creeper
Pest control: Traditional methods of dealing with "pest" species included trapping, poisoning, ! and
shooting. Less drastic measures such as "scare" devices and reproductive inhibitors have also been
experimented with. Our dilemma in dealing with the white-tailed deer population is an example of the
conflict in management philosophies. One approach, the deer hunt, has been extremely contentious with
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little evidence of success in areas where utilized. Reproductive inhibitors have been tried with some
success, but are cost prohibitive on a large scale.
Pesticides have been the first line of defense in pest control. However, through the eradication process, entire
populations and/or food supplies and water resources were also eliminated or degraded. To keep the
ecosystem intact, less devastating methods have been implemented such as mechanical and biological
techniques, integrated pest management, and planting of pest-resistant species.
Introduced alien species have jarred ecosystems. Therefore, importing any new species intentionally is a
weighty decision. An example is the State Mosquito Control Officials' deployment of the Gambusia affinis,
or "mosquito fish." This guppy-sized fish is a ravenous mosquito eater. It has been estimated that one pair
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of Gambusia are capable of eating 1,000 larvate in an hour. However, use of the Gambusia is one of many
strategies to be used. Though a benign biological alternative to insecticides, safeguards are in place whereby
areas with natural fish populations or delicate environments will not be stocked.
! Lifestyles: Though many of us are animal enthusiasts, the wild kingdom is in danger
of being loved to death. Therefore it is necessary to minimize human-related influences,
e.g., browsing and hunting pets, human intrusions into habitat, contaminants such as run
off, garbage, and pollutants of all kinds.
* Wood Turtle
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Paul Bonassera, Park Puts Deer Hunt on Hold, The Daily Record, Oct. 4, 1994.
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Art Charlton, "Fish With a Mission," The Star-Ledger, 10 July 1991:19.
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Wildlife