20 T H Bee AtU DUB .O Na BeCe eae 
“EXPERIMENTAL ROADSIDE 
MANAGEMENT AREA 
| ROAGSIGES REMAN UNMOWED 
__| AND RAVE BEEN SEEDED WH | 
SAE 
says Blair Joselyn, assistant wild- 
life specialist with the Natural His- 
tory Survey. “The Department 
could have bought land, leased 
land or even subsidized wheat and- 
hay planting. However, dollarwise, 
none of these ideas were practical 
because of the large pheasant 
range, although that sort of man- 
agement is practical for a species 
such as the prairie chicken because 
they are concentrated in one small 
area in Illinois. With the pheasant 
range we are talking about 20 to 
30 counties. The expense would 
have been phenomenal.” 
The only practical solution 
seemed to be roadside ditches. But 
in these areas, the potential for 
breeding was limited. Pheasants 
were not attracted because the 
grass — bluegrass in most instances 
— was not suitable. And the main 
reason the pheasants wouldn’t use 
roadsides was because they are 
mowed regularly. 
A 10-mile study was conducted 
along roadsides, beginning in 1962. 
Farmers agreed not to mow the 
roadsides in this study area which 
was planted in hayfield-type cover 
with brome, alfalfa and orchard 
grass. 
In effect, these plots replaced the 
hayfield and pasture land nesting 
areas. The area was searched for 
nests during the summer and com- 
pared with other untreated areas. 
The results showed that the 
study area had three times more 
nests than other roadsides. 
“Our problem was that most 
roadsides were mowed in mid-June 
when the pheasants are ready to 
hatch their young,” Joselyn ex- 
plains, “About 75 percent of the 
roadside areas in the major pheas- 
ant range is mowed once or twice 
before August. This has a devas- 
tating effect on population.” 
Later, a 16-square mile area in 
Ford County was selected as a pilot 
management site for roadside seed- 
ing. The idea was to seed all road- 
sides in this selected area with hay- 
field-type cover. Biologists per- 
suaded 61 area landowners to co- 
operate, allowing seeding and 
agreeing not to mow until after 
August 1 each year. 
The project was thoroughly ex- 
rerimental: to iron out problems, 
find the cost of seeding, see how 
much cooperation the landowners 
would give and note responses at 
the pheasant population. 
Signs were placed along road- 
sides explaining why ditches were 
not being mowed, the area was 
limed and fertilized and planted 
with brome and alfalfa. Ninety 
percent of the landowners cooper- 
ated. 
“That was an excellent percent- 
age,” Joselyn says. “In the particu- 
lar township the farmer has the 
responsibility of mowing the road- 
side or to let it grow. We felt the 
program was accepted for numer- 
ous reasons by the landowners. The 
alfalfa and brome dominate the 
land and help eliminate noxious 
weeds. We are in effect giving the 
