MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Illinois Federal Aid Projects W-66-R, 17-87-R, and 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, 
Glen C. Sanderson and Eva Steger, Editors 
U G 
G ?9a 
/a 
W-88-R 
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Cooperating 
Champaign, Illinois 
July, 1982 
Vol. 25, Ho. 7 
Manipulation o_f Pheasant Habitat - W-66-R P " E- ' larner 
As the Roadsides For Wildlife (RFW) program has expanded in recent years, 
the acceptance of the program by farmers appears similar to the acceptance and 
spread of commercial farm innovations. The 1st farmers who comply with the RFW 
prooram apparently influence the spread of roadside management to other f =™et* 
in the area. These 1st participants, however, are not necessarily those who wi 
participate for a long term or communicate positive attitudes regarding t 
program. Therefore, when the program is first introduced in an a F® a . the 
Department of Conservation should be able to identify those farmers who will 
most likely be "model participants" in the RFW program. 
Research on the Ford County Management Unit (FCMU) indicates that 
individuals having these characteristics are most likely to I ^I w'or lels years 
long term: (I) hunts on his farm at least occasionally. (2) is 45 or less years 
of age, (3) forms 400 acres or less, (4) has at least the average number of 
contacts with the county farm advisor, and (5) participates in at '“** 
government agricultural program. Individuals possessing these characterist 
could probably be identified by county farm extension advisors. 
The more farmers who participate in the RFW program the better;.therefore, 
preference is not given to any particular type of farmer. However, if those 
individuals who will most likely participate for a long term are first accommodate , 
their influence may enhance overall levels of compliance in the RFW program for 
that area. 
Ecology and Manag ement of Squi rrels - V/-66-R 
C. M. Nixon, 
L. P. Hansen 
If individuals from a particular sex-age segment of a fox squirrel population 
affect demographic parameters, such as reproduction, surv. val , and i 
removal of that segment of the population should cause change in those parameters. 
As discussed in previous newsletters, we measured reproductive, survival, and 
recruitment rates of fox squirrel populations from wh.chd .fferent sex-age 
segments had been removed. Reproductive rates {% lactating) tended to e 
similar during the fall on the experimental plots and higher on the experiment 
plots than on the control plots (Table 1); however, the differences were not 
siqnificant (P > 0.50). We also found that yearlings bred at a higher rate on 
the experimental plots than on the control plots, although sample sizes were 
low (Table 1). 
