Episode 404: Land Management
As humans continue to move across and dominate the open landscapes of North America, transforming diverse native ecosystems into managed areas for crops, livestock, or even simply for aesthetics, our native resident and transient wildlife lose habitat. That is why it is up to all of us – landowners and managers, farmers, and homeowners — to make decisions to oversee a multi-use landscape, one which both wildlife and humans can utilize for the benefit of all.
In This Episode
A special thanks to all of our staff and guests in this episode of Untamed!
- Kathryn and Tony Everett, Chancellors Rock Farm
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Jordan Herring, Virginia Department of Forestry
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Brent Wills, Bramble Hollow Farm and Virginia Association for Biological Farming
Learn More
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Interested in working on your own property, creating backyard habitats and corridors? If you’re unsure where to start, read one of the Wildlife Center’s book club selections, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Doug Tallamy. Our book clubbers were inspired by this manageable approach to transforming lawns into useful habitats! There are many online resources that walk homeowners through building a wildlife corridor in their own backyards. Corridors help wildlife “connect the dots” with enough critical resources with food, water, shelter, and places to breed.
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Fire management is an important part of managing our landscape; learn more about wildfire prevention as well as how the Department of Forestry and Department of Wildlife Resources are using “good fire” and prescribe fire to help restore habitat. These methods are particularly useful for creating early successional habitat for a wide variety of native wildlife species.
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Understand where your food comes from – find a local farmer’s market near you, learn what’s in season for your area, and learn more about farms near you that utilize biological farming practices.
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Learn more about trees (and other nature) in the city – ways that make our urban environments healthier, more climate-resilient, and just better for our brains! Learn more about toolkits and other ways to get started in your own city. If you're in Virginia, learn more at the Virginia Tech Urban and Community Forestry Program, Virginia Dept. of Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Program, and Trees Virginia.
For Classrooms
Take the learning experience for your classroom or student group one step further with our specialized activity packets. These interactive resources combine summative reading sheets with writing and critical thinking exercises related to the topics and themes covered in each Untamed episode. Each page is designed to be used individually or as a complete workbook, making this activity packet perfect for educators looking to customize the lessons that can be learned from Untamed.
Land Management Activity Packet
Are you using these materials and resources in your classroom? We are eager to hear from you! Please let us know, so we can share your classroom projects and experiences with other teachers. Contact us at edu@wildlifecenter.org.
Here's What You Can Do
Each episode of Untamed leaves viewers with steps all of us can take to help protect wildlife and the environment.
Looking for more information? Email us at wildlife@wildlifecenter.org