Vo 1. 14, No. 10 
Page 2 
Production on seeded plots has varied over the past 9 years from a 
high of 1.1 successful nests per acre in 1963 to a low of 0-5 
successful nest per acre in 1967- Only 19 percent of the nests 
established on seeded plots were successful this year, the lowest 
percentage for the past 9 years; in 1964, 21 percent of the established 
nests hatched, representing the second lowest success rate for the 
period. The average rate of success on seeded plots since I 963 ' s 
28 percent. 
Production on managed control plots in 1971 was the same as that 
on seeded plots, 0*7 nest per acre, the highest rate of production on 
this type of roadside for the past 9 years. Lowest rate of production 
on managed control plots was 0.3 successful nest per acre in 1964. 
Twenty-nine percent of the nests established on managed control plots 
were successful in 1971- 
Since 1 963 , 125 nests have hatched on seeded plots (0.8 nest per 
acre), compared with 82 nests on managed control plots ( 0.5 nest 
per acre). 
3 . Ecology and Management of Sguirrels C. M. Nixon, 
R. E. Greenberg 
Timber stand improvement (TSI), as applied to the central hardwood 
forest, includes a variety of cultural treatments designed to enhance 
the growth rates of selected crop trees. TSI recommendations often 
include the removal of vines, usually grape, that might impede the 
future growth of potential sawtimber. Data collected in Ohio, West 
Virginia, and Illinois in recent years have shown that gray and fox 
squirrels seem to prefer to use high-climbing vines as a support for 
their leaf nests. Vine-supported nests seem to be better able to 
resist weathering than nests placed in tree crotches or on tree limbs. 
During November 1970, a count of leaf nests was conducted in a 
34-acre mature oak-hickory stand inhabited by fox squirrels. A total 
of 66 nests were found and 33 (50.0 percent) were anchored by one or 
more vines. A random count of 252 trees (> 4.0 inches dbh) revealed 
that only 28.4 percent contained high-climbing vines. The difference 
between the number of squirrel nests with vines and the number of trees 
with vines is significant (P<0.01). 
Vine removal may particularly affect squirrels located in regenera¬ 
ting hardwood stands that contain few tree dens. Leaf nests provide 
the only sites for rearing nestlings in these stands and, without 
supporting vines, may not remain usable during the 10-week rearing 
period. 
