Rescuing Rattlers: A Successful State Program Restores Wildlife Habitat on Private Land
Posted: 21-Jun-2007; Updated: 21-Jun-2007
Flash back to 1967 when Minnesota paid bounties for 3,787 timber rattlesnakes in a single southeastern county. Now, 40 years later, the state Department of Natural Resources nongame biologists Jaime Edwards and Dave Spiering are working with 36 private landowners to restore over 500 acres of timber rattlesnake habitat through the Landowner Incentive Program. As in all states, Minnesota’s LIP program is a state-federal partnership, with the state independently running the program and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributing some of the funding. (See map of current Minnesota LIP projects [PDF].)
Minnesota repealed its rattlesnake bounty in 1989 and listed the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) as a threatened species in 1992. Public education increased landowners’ knowledge and tolerance of the species. In 2003, the DNR’s Ecological Services Division received its first LIP grant from USFWS to assist private landowners with bluffland restoration for the primary purpose of preventing the extirpation of the timber rattlesnake in Minnesota.
In Minnesota, the timber rattlesnake occurs exclusively in six counties of the southeastern blufflands. Steep bluffs and stream valleys, often 500-600 feet deep, characterize this landscape. Valleys and moister slopes are forested, and prairie habitat occurs on the broad ridge tops and steep south and southwest-facing slopes. A primary threat to the timber rattlesnake is woody encroachment around the dens where gravid (pregnant) females require sunny areas for basking. Other significant threats are residential development and persecution by humans.
Restored bluff prairie: Eleven rattlesnakes were found on the site during the 2007 spring survey. (Photo: Courtesy Minnesota Landowner Incentive Program)
Habitat restoration occurs while the snake is in hibernation (generally October through April in Minnesota) and is directed at reducing the canopy cover to 30% or less around the den by controlling invasive plants such as Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), Tartarian honeysuckle (Loniceratatarica) and prickly ash (Xanthoxylum americanum). A multiple treatment approach that includes hand-cutting of red cedars and invasive brush species, prescribed burns and chemical exotic species control is most effective. Timber rattlesnake habitat restoration also benefits the rare bluff prairie native plant communities, including 12 state-listed prairie plants and three other at-risk snakes—Eastern racer (Colubera constrictor), bullsnake (Pituophis catenifer) and hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus).
When spring arrives, rattlesnake surveys and habitat monitoring begin. Edwards and Spiering use those data to identify priority LIP focus areas, evaluate and prioritize new landowner habitat projects and evaluate the effectiveness of past management practices. Timber rattlesnake surveys are funded in part through State Wildlife Grants, and compliance and biological monitoring are funded through LIP.
Landowner Incentive Program in jeopardy
The Administration's proposed FY2008 budget included no funding for the popular Landowner Incentive Program. In early June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Department of Interior appropriations bill that did not restore that funding. With little time remaining, conservationists are asking U.S. Senators to fund LIP.
Although LIP's budget is modest by federal standards, its dollars can stretch far. Minnesota LIP coordinator Faith Balch notes, “LIP is an important strategy for implementing our State Wildlife Action Plan on private lands. If we lose LIP we lose more than the federal dollars as our ability to leverage state and private dollars for rare species on private lands could also be reduced. With the completion of our SWAP we are realizing LIP’s full potential as a private lands conservation program specifically targeted to species in greatest conservation need.”
Improved hunting
Prior to LIP-funded restoration, the bluffs were often of little value to the landowner. The dense cedars limited wildlife habitat and human access. Not only timber rattlesnakes, but wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) require habitat that offers both forest and open cover. Bluffland restoration creates habitat for wild turkey and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and makes these areas accessible to the landowner for hunting.
Working prairies
In addition to the timber rattlesnake project, Minnesota’s LIP program is working with 46 landowners in the western section of the state. Its Prairie Species At Risk Program is a component of DNR’s Prairie Stewardship Program. About 7,000 acres are under active landowner agreements either through prairie bank easements or LIP agreements that ensure that habitat enhancement practices are maintained for a specified time period. Many of these are "working prairies" and thus important to the continued operation of the landowner’s farm or ranch. Minnesota LIP assists the landowner in developing and implementing prairie stewardship and rotational grazing plans that allow for continued use of their land while enhancing habitat for animals identified in Minnesota's State Wildlife Action Plan as species in greatest conservation need, as well as listed plants. These lands include habitat for two federally listed plants, prairie bush clover (Lespedeza leptostachya) and western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara), and a number of grassland birds and butterfly species such as the Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae), a candidate for federal listing.
Leveraging dollars for species in greatest conservation need
LIP funding has significantly expanded Minnesota’s work with private landowners to improve habitat for species in greatest need of conservation. By successfully competing for federal LIP dollars, Minnesota’s LIP program has been able to leverage $300,000 new match dollars from another state program, Reinvest In Minnesota’s critical habitat fund, to implement LIP projects on private lands.
Conservation Incentives thanks Faith Balch, Minnesota LIP Coordinator, for this article.
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