Letie eee. eed, OrNe es U Delt T le N 21 
farmers an excuse not to mow, 
while providing the pheasants a 
place to nest. In addition, the seed- 
ings were aesthetically acceptable 
to both landowner and public.” 
Initial tests have shown that the 
area becomes maintenance-free 
after the planting, There is no need 
to re-fertilize the area or to spray 
for weeds. 
The heavy planting has not af- 
fected the roadside area. It was 
felt initially that it might hinder 
drainage, but this was not the case. 
The biologists encourage mowing 
after Aug. 1, however, since it’s 
believed that if it were allowed to 
remain through the winter it might 
cause snow to drift over the roads. 
Also, one mowing tends to improve 
the stand. 
After an area is seeded the biol- 
ogists leave it alone. There are no 
searches made for nests, only call 
counts to determine number of 
hens nesting on the area. 
“The roadside area we planted 
represents eight acres of land per 
square mile,” Joselyn says. ‘This 
is one and a half percent of the 
total land area, The area we plant- 
ed increased the hay in this test 
section by 50 percent, which gives 
some indication of how little hay 
there was in the area. This shows 
that the only sizable number of 
acres of nest sites is along the road- 
sides. 
“We are not saying this one and 
a half percent of the land can carry 
the entire load for pheasant nest- 
ing, but we have showed that it 
can supplement the _ production 
area.” 
Studies on this 16-square-mile 
tract show that last year there were 
.8 producing nests per acre, as com- 
pared to .3 producing nests per 
acre on untreated land. It looks as 
though this year the area will 
have one producing nest per acre. 
Jim Moak (left), chief upland game biologist, Department of Conservation, 
and Blair Joselyn, INHS wildlife specialist, work together to load brome 
and alfalfa for sowing a roadside in central Illinois. 
