By Kathlean Wolf
Wild Warner
Our native woodlands offer food and shelter for wildlife, support native plant communities, give a boost to the health and happiness of human visitors, and provide a buffer against the urban heat-island effect during extreme heat events.
Here are some things you can do to help keep our woodlands healthy.
• Take regular woodland walks if you are able. Walks through natural areas have great health benefits for body and mind. Time spent in the woods makes us better stewards of our wild lands as we learn to identify problems, such as invasive species, and observe positive signs of returning wildlife and expanding native habitat.
• Take photographs, write in a nature journal, or share experiences on social media. Pictures help document what you’ve seen, identify things you don’t recognize, and share the beauty of nature to inspire others. Share your observations with your family, friends and community science organizations, such as Nature’s Notebook, eBird or Friends of Amphibians. A good place to find an organization that fits your interests is researchguides.library.wisc.edu/citizen_science/opportunities.
• Check your shoes and clothes before entering and after leaving a wild area to find and remove any seeds of invasive species. Some seeds are super-small, so it’s best to inspect the soles of your shoes thoroughly.
• Stay on the trail and avoid flooded trails; if you can’t walk straight through, it’s best to turn around. Walking along the sides of flooded trails and going off trail causes soil-erosion, habitat fragmentation, and often spreads invasive species deeper into the woods.
• Pick up any litter you find, and of course, don’t leave anything behind, including supposedly “biodegradable” items such as orange peels or toilet paper.
• In areas that allow dogs, keep your dog on a leash. Encounters with wildlife, dead animals and scat can expose your dog to parasites, disease and injury. In addition, prey animals such as voles, mice and squirrels can’t distinguish the scent of dogs from the scent of coyotes. Fear of large predators inhibits many prey animals from finding mates or foraging for enough food to raise their offspring.
• If you see a coyote, yell, make a lot of noise, and throw things in their direction (not at them) to teach them that humans aren’t safe to approach. It seems rude, but it’s the best way to keep coyotes safe. A coyote that has a conflict with humans is more likely to be captured and euthanized.
• Support healthy habitat that feeds wildlife, rather than providing food. Feeding wildlife can lead to the spread of disease, malnutrition, and conflicts with humans. Bird feeders are fine for birds, but keep deer away — when deer congregate, it increases the spread of chronic wasting disease.
• Last but definitely not least, join a volunteer group such as Friends of Lakeview Hill Park, Friends of Cherokee Marsh, Wild Warner, or Dane County Parks, to learn and volunteer with other wildlife-loving people in your community.
