Re: Backyard Wildlife Habitat Certification

In a message dated 9/29/00 11:42:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
MDShulman@AOL.COM writes:

 but if you had the deer infestation we have here,
 one would not consider such a course and certification!  We also have many
 bear here that think nothing of tearing down bird feeders placed on the end
 of steel pipes set in concrete.  Now, encouraging predators would be
 something I would consider! >>

Hi Mark,

Where have you been?  How nice to see you on the maillist.

I cannot speak for other parts of the country but Mark is absolutely correct
with this observation on NYS, upstate in any rural areas.  People do not
think of NYS as being rural or in natural state.   The wildlife to be
attracted may be birds and small animals though.

One cannot grow ornamentals here without electric fencing.  Coyotes have
yearly destroyed the nesting waterbirds on our pond.  Our cats are indoors at
nightfall as well.  The coyotes are increasing here and damaging domestic
birds.  Our neighbor shoots any that he sees.

We have only had an occasional bear stroll though but a neighbor with bird
feeders has had a great deal of destruction at her feeders and her garden
pond.  This is really major destruction of garden structures.  There is
plentiful supply of woodchucks.  There is no vegetable garden without removal
of these from your gardening area.

In general, we leave wildlife alone gardening inside our electric-fenced
area.  Once in while a woodchuck is dispatched.  The cats keep down the
chipmunks.  I have noticed a welcome increase in the snake population this
year.

If you would drive along our roads at nightfall where there are farmlands you
will see great gatherings of deer in the fall.  Their coats have turned
greyish and the grazing herds are a marvelous sight.  Those same deer use my
rear fields as a sort of deer highway and the very thought of them in my
garden is horrible.  One roving buck this summer got through somehow and in
one night dispatched most of the vegetable patch.

I remain cicumspect regarding wildlife thinking each gardener must solve his
problem his own way.  The most annoying creature in my garden is the vole,
eating many things beside the bulbs.  I have a large bulb order waiting to be
planted right now.  It will replace all the crocus and bot. tulips that have
disappeared over the past year.

I do not think that I would do anything deliberate to attract wildlife in my
rural setting and I think a suburban location might consider this carefully.
This is not addressing conservation of wildlife, rather from a gardening
point of view.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4



I have said this before
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