MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER ivm.H 
Illinois Federal Aid Project W-66-R 
department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Eva Steger, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
December, 1979 
Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat 
Vol. 22, No. 12 
R. E. Warner 
Participation in delayed mowing of seeded roadsides has been similar over 
the last 3 years for the Ford County Management Unit (FCMU) block seeding and for 
roadsides scattered throughout Ford County that were seeded after roadbed and 
drainage improvements (MWRL 22(8):1). Cooperators in the roadside management 
program on both the FCMU and the scattered graded roadsides were individually 
solicited by the Department of Conservation (DOC). 
In recent years, an increasing number of roadsides have been volunteered by 
farmers for seeding by the DOC. Hypothetically, these volunteer participants 
would be less likely than solicited cooperators to infract their delayed mowinq 
agreement and mow prior to 1 August. Initial steps were made toward testing 
t is hypothesis in June and July 1979 when 146 miles of managed roadsides 
controlled by volunteer participants scattered throughout Champaign and Ford 
counties were monitored for early mowing. 
The extent of delayed mowing in 1979 is noted in Table 1 for seeded roadsides 
controlled by solicited and volunteer cooperators. On the scattered managed 
roadsides, the percentage of roadsides unmowed by 31 July 1979 was nearly 
identical among volunteer and solicited participants (Table 1). 
On the FCMU, the percentage of roadsides unmowed by 15 July 1979 was 
comparable to the percentage unmowed on the scattered roadsides. By 31 July 
379} however, approximately 7% more roadsides were mowed on the FCMU than on 
the other managed roadsides (Table 1). 
We plan to continue comparing the mowing behavior of volunteer and solicited 
cooperators over the next few years. 
Table 1. Percent of seeded roadsides controlled by volunteer and solicited 
participants unmowed through 15 and 31 July 1979. 
Percent 
of 
Type of Cooperator 
Location of Seedings 
Miles Monitored 
Roadsides 
7-15 
Unmowed 
7-31 
Volunteer 
Scattered' 
146.0 
76.3 
67-9 
Solicited 
Scattered* 
82.7 
78.7 
67.8 
Solicited 
Block 3 
72.5 
76.4 
60.9 
2 
Located in 12 townships in Ford County. 
3 
The 20-square-mile Ford County Management Unit. 
