V/ Ovi, Rv cty O'- ~L 
Department of 
Glen 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
November, 1973 
Vol. 16, No, 11 
Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
The last report (MWRL 16 (10)) listed known or presumed advantages and dis¬ 
advantages of the Graded Roadside Program for establishing cover for nesting 
pheasants. This report discusses the potential, advantages, and disadvantages of 
a second approach to roadside management, the Volunteer Program. 
Potential 
Under the Volunteer Program, farmers would request the Department of 
Conservation to seed their roadsides and would agree to delay mowing until late 
summer. Farmers would be informed of the program by the Department through 
various media. After a request by the farmer, biologists of the Department would 
inspect the roadsides to determine their suitability for seedings, would then 
schedule the seedings if they were feasible, and would conclude the delayed mow¬ 
ing agreement with the farmer. 
Advantages 
(a) This approach should induce a high degree of compliance with de¬ 
layed mowing agreements because only interested farmers would make requests for 
seedings. 
(b) If the program is properly presented to the farm community, many 
individuals would participate. As with the graded roadsides, farmers and govern¬ 
mental officials over a wide area would be brought into contact with the program. 
(c) A maximum amount of public exposure to a sound program initiated 
by the Department would result from the advertising used to explain the program. 
Disadvantages 
(a) Conceivably, the greatest disadvantage to this approach could be 
the inability of managers to control the flow of requests from farmers for seeding. 
The county appears to be the smallest unit for which a reasonable degree of control 
could be imposed, in an advertising campaign. Maintaining program credibility 
would necessitate positive planning to insure that requests were acted upon within 
a reasonable time. 
