Ohio WHIP

NRCS Soil Scientist Rick Griffin (right) discusses the preparation of the grassland planting site with Dr. Cavender at The Wilds. Autumn olive shrubs are seen on the hill behind the sites

Thanks to a successful association between Ohio NRCS State Biologist Mark DeBrock and The Wilds in Muskingum County Director of Restoration Ecology Dr. Nicole Cavender, bird populations in the grassland ecosystems of The Wilds are on the rise.

this bobolink was netted and banded by Muskingum College researchers on the grasslands of The Wilds

The advent of strip mining in Ohio left huge amounts of land barren that was re-vegetated with an aggressive and prolific non-native shrub, autumn olive that is altering the unique Wilds habitat needed by grassland birds. Nicole learned from Mark that through Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) both financial and technical assistance are available to manage and improve wildlife habitat. Sounding like a program that might help protect grassland birds at The Wilds, Mark and other NRCS conservationists worked with Nicole to develop a conservation plan to re-establish prairie on some areas of the property and manage autumn olive problem.