OutdoorNebraska

76 TABLE B17. PHEASANT & QUAIL HABITAT MANAGEMENT - MERIDIAN WMA Grassland Early Seral Stage Grassland Mid Seral Stage Grassland Late Seral Stage Food Plots/ Crops Early Succession Rota on Woodland Wetland Misc. Meridian WMA - 400 acres Future Desired Condi on 325 ac. (62%) 49 ac. (9%) 156 ac. (29%) 55 ac. 83 ac. 15 ac. 4 ac. Current Condi on 283 ac. (70%) 20 ac. (5%) 100 ac. (25%) 63 ac. 83 ac. 15 ac. 4 ac. DEFINITIONS Early Seral Stage: The disturbance year and 1 -3 years following disturbance, i.e. burning, grazing, spraying, disking, lling. Cover is also provided by second year idle crop ground, forb/legume interseeding. Dominated by early successional forbs/legumes. Mid Seral Stage: 4 - 6 years following disturbance. Not dominated by one vegeta on type. Reduced early successional forbs/legumes in the stand. Late Seral Stage: > 6 years following disturbance. Dominated by grass or later successional plants. Few forbs/legumes in the stand. FUTURE DESIRED CONDITION Maintain approximately 325 acres (68%) in grassland and second year idle crop ground func oning primarily as brood rearing cover which will also include nes ng cover especially for quail. Brood rearing is cover defined as early seral stage vegeta on, especially forbs/legumes, crop ground, idle crop ground. There are 49 acres (11%) that will be maintained as nes ng cover around edges of na ve pastures, woodland and crop fields where edge feathering has been established. Nes ng cover will also include 8 acres of alfalfa/clover fields which will be rotated through the crop acres in the future. Nes ng cover defined as mid seral stage grass and forb/legumes, as well as legumes and idle small grains. Increase the amount of cover primarily func oning as winter cover from 25% to 29% (increase of 56 acres of edge/feathering) over the en re area for a total of 156 acres. Winter cover is provided by: late seral stage vegeta on such as warm season grasses, woodlands, shelterbelts, edge-feathering and wetlands. Winter food sources will be maintained at approximately 55 acres which is 14% of the area. Food sources include small grain food plots, agricultural row crops and sunflower plan ngs. Maintain 4-5 acres of standing milo for winter food. ANNUAL WORK PLAN Approximately 36 acres of smooth brome and reed canary grass were sprayed in fall of 2015 and this will be reduced to annually spray approximately 8 acres, as the smooth brome and reed's canary grass encroaches into the grasslands. This will be a maintenance ac vity. There are 20 acres of grassland that will be disked in 2016 to ini ate early succession habitat. Prescribed fire will be on a 5 year rota on to treat 380 acres. Grazing infrastructure has been in place for over a decade and grazing will be implemented throughout the area on 225 acres. This will occur on a 4 year rota on where paddocks will be grazed for 2 years and then rest for 2 years. Burning will be used in these grazing rota ons through the patch/burn system when possible. In 2017 crop ground will be reduced by 8 acres (13%) and this former crop ground will be planted to a high diversity

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