Kentucky Private Land Habitat Management

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Kentucky Private Land Habitat Management

KDFWR provides information on how to manage the habitat on your property to meet your wildlife goals.

This page is managed by KY Department of Fish and Wildlife's Private Lands Management Program. The programs goal is to provide technical guidance on habitat management to landowners across the Commonwealth. To learn more about the program please follow this page and visit https://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Improve-Your-Land-for-Wildlife.aspx. To learn more about the Department’s mission and programs, please visit https://fw.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx.

06/12/2026

Love is in the air for the bobwhite quail. Mating tends to begin in April and carries on through summer with peak times typically in June/July. This is a excellent time to start listen for quail on your property or your neighboring property or all around. Male quail begin searching for females with the classic “bob white” whistle and will find elevated places to make the call like fence post or shrubs.
For a fun activity try cruising down backroads in the mornings listening for the calls. Look for areas that are grassland/pasture or crop fields that have some sort of shrub cover nearby either in fence rows or drainages.

06/11/2026

What are “growing-season” prescribed fires? Typically, these are conducted in late July-September, but can also be executed in the spring depending on objectives. If conducted too early in the spring, the fire may act as a “dormant season fire” and promote grasses and only top kill woody stems. Often at times, land managers have the goal of setting back grasses and woody stems to promote more broadleaf plants (i.e., forbs) which are often times lacking in management units.

Growing-season fires are conducive to promoting plants such as ragweed, partridge pea, fleabane, wingstem, pokeweed, beggar’s lice, goldenrod, asters, and many others. While areas dominated by vegetation such as this are oftentimes viewed as “weedy” or “snakey”, these plants play a key role in life history stages among various wildlife species. But what about burning just before or during these life history stages such as nesting and fawning windows? Wouldn’t it destroy the habitat and young wildlife? This is a common concern among folks, but it is not as much as a concern as one might think. There are multiple research studies that would support this. A 2017 University of Georgia study found that female turkeys “selected mature pines burned 0-5 months prior” when laying their eggs and avoided stands with increasing fire-return intervals. Another turkey study stated, “Although approximately 20% of the study area was burned concurrent with nesting activity, only 3.3% of monitored nests were destroyed by fire, and we calculated that no more than 6% of all turkey nests were exposed to fire annually on our study site.”

Read these studies here: https://wildturkeylab.com/prescribed-fire-influences-habitat-selection-of-female-eastern-wild-turkeys/

https://fwf.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2020/07/Wild-turkey-nest-survival-and-nest-site-selection.pdf

In general, the key when utilizing fire is to keep units on the smaller side (

06/08/2026

This time of year, native flowers can be seen in fallow fields, edges, and in ditches. Native plants have coevolved with native wildlife. Both are suitable and provide all needs for each other. Forbs can give nectar for pollinators while pollinators help plants reproduce. Some even acts as host plants for various insects such as caterpillars of butterfly and moth species. Seeds are a great food source for birds. Native forbs are also adapted to our region. Many grow well in most soil conditions and root deeply which can reduce erosion. You may have some natives growing in your old fields or in your ditch that you can keep around . Here is a list of flowering species that are currently blooming that you can look for.

Blackeyed Susan

Butterfly milkweed

Common milkweed

Common yarrow

Narrowleaf mountainmint

Eastern purple coneflower

H**p dogbane

American vetch (vine)

Trumpet creeper (vine)

Some management practices can help forb growth. Restoration of prairies or native plantings are also options! Reach out to your local private land biologist for more guidance!

06/06/2026

Last fall KDFWR private lands program funded experimental drone flights spraying invasive kudzu patches on 8 pieces of private property over 6 counties totaling 100 acres. As we are now actively in the growing season for kudzu, we revisited these sites to assess progress made.
We are really excited about the coverage and treatment of these areas to this point. We significantly set this invasive back with our applications. Achieving, at this point 90-95% control in some patches. Even more exciting is the native vegetative response in these patches. By doing this treatment we have released elderberry, dogbane, geranium, perennial ryegrass, yellow buckeye, ironweed, wingstem, pokeweed, common milkweed, and ragweed among many others. Also, we prevented to this point, in having any negative effects on trees within the units and outside.
Additionally, wildlife continue to utilize these areas. A suite of songbirds including towhee, tree swallow, yellow breasted chat, cardinal, wren, wood thrush, sparrows, indigo buntings, cedar waxwings among others have been identified in the patches. We have also seen white tailed deer, chipmunks, black rat snake, and cottontail rabbits running/slithering through the sections.
Although we do recognize this isn’t a silver bullet. Kudzu has persisted in these areas especially along the edges we couldn’t spray. Follow up treatments will be required for years to achieve eradication. But we do believe at this point this is a viable tool in the toolbox for control of this overwhelming invasive species to native diversity.
We will keep you updated on this project as we progress through the growing season and determine the next steps.
Below are before and after pictures of some of the different sites.

05/31/2026

One key component of habitat management is creating disturbance. Some of the most easy and cost efficient ways to do that is to do seasonal timed sprays or letting annual food plots go fallow. A seasonal timed spray is designed to target cool season fescue in most cases. Which in turn creates bare ground for ease of wildlife movement and growing space for more desirable forbs (flowers/broadleafs) and foraging of seeds/insects. Allowing annual food plots to go fallow (leaving unplanted for a year or more) can provide more benefits than trying to reestablish that annual food plot. Again the spraying and ground disturbance stimulates native forbs (weeds in a food plot) that can be more desirable to wildlife and provide better nutrition. Ragweed, asters, wild lettuce, and goldenrod are just a few beneficial forbs that are most certain to appear in any situation. The forbs in return attracts native insects and bare ground allows foraging on seeds as well as for easy access for smaller mammals and upland birds.
This is just a quick reference for these types of management and may or may not suit your management goals. However having a biologist make a free visit to your property would be a good way to start.

https://app.fw.ky.gov/WebContact/

The pictures below show a portion of a field sprayed in late March to target fescue that has allowed for more broadleaf growth now. Another field sprayed in April that has created a lot of bare ground with a hen and poults using (video in comments).Final two pictures are a food plot that was planted last September and will now be left fallow.

05/26/2026

I went on a site visit earlier and saw the perfect example on the possible effects of timber stand improvement. These woods were dominated with American beech and maple trees with a few oaks and hickory trees scattered through the property. The American beech and maples took up so much canopy space that there was no sunlight and the forest floor was a biological desert. Very little regeneration of any vegetation.

In one of the central most portions of the wooded lot I came upon a large dead tree that previously competed for canopy space, directly below it where the sunlight could reach the ground was an influx of Pawpaw tree saplings and other young growth while directly around this area there was little to nothing!

The landowner goals for the property were to improve overall wildlife habitat and health, so I recommended they do TSI within these wooded acres on their property and identify the oak and hickory trees to remove any competition directly around them ultimately to help promote their growth and regeneration through the property! For this specific situation a combination of hack and sq**rt as well as girdling will be used.

Check out the pictures below to see the change a little bit of sunlight can have on growth within a forest!

05/22/2026

One of the best things you can do for wildlife this spring is also the easiest: put the bush hog away and leave it there for a while. Field edges, fence rows, and open areas that look "messy" are exactly what nesting turkeys, grassland birds, and newborn fawns need right now. That tall, uncut cover is like a wildlife nursery. The urge to clean things up is understandable, but holding off on mowing until August or later can make a serious difference in how many young animals make it through the summer. Sometimes the best habitat management is knowing when to do nothing.

05/20/2026

Itching to get started back in those forest management units you have been working on? While many try to avoid managing habitat in the summer due to the heat and influx of ticks, you can expand your management window by doing so to create more time for other activities throughout the year. After being on a hiatus due to sap flow from the spring, June is a good rule of thumb timeframe-wise to start back on techniques such as the cut-stump method and forest management techniques such as hack-and-sq**rt and girdle-and-spray. If you can spare a few early mornings on the weekend to beat the heat, you will be surprised just how much you can knock out.

05/18/2026

It’s the best time of the year: NO-MOW SEASON! The primary nesting season for ground-dwelling birds, such as wild turkey and northern bobwhite quail, is May 15th – August 1st. During this time, adults are nesting, chicks are hatching, and the next generation of birds are scratching out a living – literally. Between April and June, bobwhite quail build nests in clumps of last year’s native warm season grasses. They do this by scratching shallow depressions into the soil, then lining it with dead vegetation. When chicks hatch, they are approximately the size of a bumblebee and eat mostly insects. Having plenty of vegetation to act as cover and attract insects is crucial, but so is bare ground beneath. This allows the birds to move freely and scratch for bugs efficiently. Avoiding mowing helps to protect young birds, their nests, and the crucial vegetation that brings in a buffet of insects. So, rest assured that a lack of mowing is NOT a lack of productivity – it is you investing in the next generation of gallinaceous birds.

If you would like to meet with a biologist to discuss habitat improvements for your property, reach out to your local Private Lands Biologist:https://fw.ky.gov/More/Documents/privatelands_biologists.pdf

05/16/2026

Removing oaks for increased wildlife value?

Thinning less productive red oaks, especially scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), from a white oak stand increases sunlight and reduces resource competition, directly boosting white oak growth and acorn production. However, it’s recommended to retain a few red oaks to buffer against year-to-year mast failures. Listed below are some key differences between scarlet oak and eastern white oak.
1. Botanical Group Classification
• Scarlet Oak: Classified under the red oak subgenus (Erythrobalanus).
• Eastern White Oak: Classified under the white oak subgenus (Quercus).
2. Leaf Anatomy and Lobes
• Scarlet Oak: Features bristle-tipped, pointed lobes. The sinuses (the cutouts between the lobes) are exceptionally deep, C-shaped, and cut more than two-thirds of the way to the center mid-rib.
• Eastern White Oak: Features rounded lobes completely lacking any bristles. The sinuses are moderately deep but variably finger-like and smooth.
3. Acorn Development and Interior Hairs
• Scarlet Oak: Acorns require two full growing seasons to mature on the branch and germinate during the following spring. The interior of the hard shell is lined with fuzzy, velvety hairs.
• Eastern White Oak: Acorns mature rapidly in a single growing season and sprout almost immediately in autumn after falling. The shell interior lacks velvety hairs and is smooth.
4. Bark Texture and Appearance
• Scarlet Oak: Bark is darker gray, relatively tight, and remains smoother on the upper trunk with shallow fissures. It features flatter ridges compared to other red oaks.
• Eastern White Oak: Bark is an ashy, light gray that breaks into loose, scaly, or platy chunks. On older trees, it often peels slightly and sheds, giving it a somewhat shaggy texture.
5. Wood Porosity and Rot Resistance
• Scarlet Oak: Pores in the wood are large, open, and clear. This allows moisture to seep through easily, leaving the wood susceptible to rot and fungus.
• Eastern White Oak: Microscopic pores are completely plugged with a crystalline structure called tyloses. This creates a natural water-resistant seal, making the wood highly rot-resistant.
6. Autumn Foliage Color
• Scarlet Oak: Celebrated for its intense, brilliant scarlet-red fall color. The leaves change color late in the season and stand out sharply in the landscape.
• Eastern White Oak: Foliage changes to a more muted reddish-brown, wine-red, or tawny purplish color. The leaves often dry out and persist on the lower branches through the winter.
7. Native Habitat and Soil Preferences
• Scarlet Oak: Strictly an upland species that thrives in dry, sandy, gravelly, and highly acidic soils. It struggles significantly in alkaline environments.
• Eastern White Oak: Extremely adaptable, growing across both uplands and moist bottomlands. It prefers rich, well-drained loams but tolerates a much wider variation of soil chemistry.
8. Acorn Taste and Wildlife Value
• Scarlet Oak: Acorns are packed with high levels of bitter tannic acid. Wildlife will store them for winter but generally eat them only when other food sources run low.
• Eastern White Oak: Acorns are low in tannins and taste sweet. They are the top preference for deer, turkeys, and squirrels, which will eagerly consume them immediately upon dropping.

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1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort, KY
40601

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https://fw.ky.gov/

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