Tips to prepare your landscape for winter wildlife

With Thanksgiving behind us, and the holiday season officially in full swing, it is now time to start getting into winter mode in regards to any last minute punch-list items to prepare our homes and landscape for the colder, snowy months.

For most of us that probably means dusting off the exterior Christmas decorations, stringing up some lights, and raking the last of the stubborn autumn leaves that show up seemingly out of nowhere. If you have palatable trees, perennial flower gardens, or other manicured areas, this time of year is also a good time to take some preventative measures to ensure the local wildlife don’t make a snack out of these valuable horticultural possessions.

The past two winters have been some of the most severe in recent memory as far as snowfall and extended periods of sub-zero temperatures, and natural food sources for wildlife were both hard to access and in short supply when animals could find them. Wildlife are quite resourceful however, especially when their survival depends on it, and I heard from numerous property owners who lamented over the damage their trees, shrubs and flowers suffered to ease the hunger of local deer, rabbits and other critters.

A lot of this damage can be prevented with a proactive approach, a few inexpensive supplies, and a couple hours of time. One of the keys is to do it now while the temperatures are still mild and wildlife still have easy access to native food sources. Once the animals discover how delicious your Arbor vitae trees taste or how easily the bulbs pull out of your friable flower bed soil, it will be hard to deter them, but beating them to the punch with physical barriers goes along with old adage, “What they don’t know … ”

Some of the most effective, and simple, exclusion devices can be made with ¼-inch wire mesh hardware cloth. This material can be laid flat and weighted or staked down over top of perennial bulbs to prevent rodents and raccoons from digging them up, or wrapped cylindrically around vertical growing trees and shrubs to prevent rabbits and other small mammals from girdling the bark.

Protecting trees and bushes from a hungry deer requires a larger scale approach, but one of the easiest ways I’ve found is to stake plastic “snow fence” perimeter around the plants you want to protect. Creating a buffer space between the fence and plant will prevent the deer from just leaning over the fence to chomp on it, and most deer will simply move on to more accessible plants.

Because wildlife in general prefer to do the least amount of work for maximum reward, having a sacrificial planting of low-value plants or putting out supplemental food in times of severe weather, can reduce the amount of damage on your more prized plants in the landscape. It may be counter intuitive to think that by putting out something to attract wildlife can actually reduce the impact of their presence, but with strategic placement of the easy-access food, you can effectively guide the animals away from more sensitive areas.

Just keep in mind that animals will always be hungry, and if you don’t take steps to protect those tender twigs, greens and bulbs around your house they will find it, and they will eat it.

Tommy Springer is the conservation technician and wildlife specialist for the Fairfield Soil and Water Conservation District. He can be reached at 740-653-8154.