Illinois Success Story

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program
Restoring the Land, Preserving History with Forest Management

By: Jill Creamean, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist
September 2002

"I’ve known these woods all my life," says Jim Short. But Jim’s connection to his family’s southern Illinois wooded property in Pope County reaches much farther into the past than a single lifetime. Jim manages the site for his brother Steven Short. They trace their roots on the site hundreds of years back, to both their Cherokee and European ancestors who homesteaded the land. The property, and the stories about it, have been in the family ever since.

In fact, one could say that Jim and his wife Barb care for 27 acres of southern Illinois history. The site and its Clarida Springs have been a haven for people and wildlife since times that predate the oral history of Jim’s family.

"There are stories of early settlers celebrating summer festivals at the springs and other accounts of Depression-era drought sufferers who traveled from neighboring counties for the reliable water source," Jim recalls.

Before that, many generations of Jim’s ancestors drew water from Clarida Springs. The springs are also known locally as Clardy Springs after a branch of Jim’s family, the Clardy’s, who lived near the site. Until the 1980’s, an ancient cedar ladder used by American Indians and others for possibly hundreds of years provided the shortest route from atop adjacent sandstone bluffs to the fresh water below. A photo of the ladder was published in Clarence Bonnell’s 1946 chronicle of the southern Illinois landscape and its history entitled The Illinois Ozarks.

The Shorts want to preserve this piece of Illinois history by restoring the site to the presettlement conditions that drew countless visitors all those years ago. Doing so, they will not only preserve a segment of southern Illinois’ cultural past, but also restore the site’s biological diversity by providing rare natural conditions necessary for many types of plant, insect and animal species.

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program…

Photo Caption: As the canopy opens, oak seedlings like this one will begin to mature.

Until the late 1800’s, the site hosted native hardwood forest and pockets of native grass. Devoted to returning the land to oak-hickory forest, the Shorts enrolled 13 acres into USDA’s Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), a voluntary program that provides landowners with cost-share assistance to restore wildlife habitats. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers the program and provides technical assistance to maximize wildlife benefits.

Oak-hickory hardwood ecosystems can take centuries to regenerate naturally and must compete with a growing number of aggressive or invasive species. With assistance from WHIP, the Shorts will speed regeneration of native hardwood forest on the property.

"With a little time and effort, the Shorts can speed a process that would take nature possibly a few hundred years to achieve," said NRCS Biologist Ellen Starr.

Starr is helping the Shorts determine the most effective approach to manage their wooded area. Starr notes that accelerating hardwood reestablishment will also speed development of habitat necessary for many species currently suffering habitat loss, including the federally endangered Indiana bat and state endangered red shouldered hawk.

Currently, the site is dominated by eastern red cedar, an early successional species that becomes established after forestland is cleared for pasture and then abandoned. Cedars have a long life span and will dominate the forest canopy, blocking sunlight, crowding out other tree species, and preventing hardwoods from maturing for possibly hundreds of years. Cedar dominated forest provides limited food and habitat for wildlife and hosts a limited range of plants and animals.

In contrast, native hardwood forest provides habitat for a much wider variety of species than a cedar-dominated forest. Through WHIP, the Shorts will receive financial and technical assistance to selectively clear the red cedar to release the oaks and hickories in the understory. Over time, oaks and hickories will naturally regenerate and serve as a nutritious and abundant food source. Eventually, a much wider variety of plant and animal species will return to the area.

Forest Management…

Photo Caption: Dominant cedars such as this one will be thinned to open the canopy for hardwood growth.

Photo Caption: The rare Cranefly Orchid was identified on the Short property.

Starr and Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) District Forester David Allen have worked with the Shorts to develop a Forestry Management Plan. Starr explains that once the Shorts open the way for hardwood regeneration on their land, it will be essential that they follow the Forest Management Plan to maintain the ecosystem. Without proper forest management, a hardwood forest in the southern Illinois climate will, over time, naturally succeed to a beech-maple dominated forest canopy. Maples and beeches are shade tolerant, able to regenerate in the understory and compete with the shade intolerant oak and hickory species. Over generations, oaks and hickories slowly die out of the canopy allowing maples and beech to eventually dominate. With a Forestry Management Plan, an oak-hickory dominated canopy can be maintained by selective harvesting. Selective harvesting creates open space, allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor and support growth of shade intolerant species.

"Oaks and hickories have become established underneath the cedars, but most of them are no more than 3 to 4 feet in height," said Allen. "These struggling seedlings, many of which may be 20 or more years old, can not grow into the canopy until at least half of the cedars are removed either by a natural disturbance such as wind or fire or by cutting," Allen explains.

Wildlife Benefits of Native Hardwood Forest…
Many think of southern Illinois as the domain of large tracts of federal and state forest. They may wonder why forest management on surrounding private land matters. But consider this: while protected public lands provide quality habitat, much of that land is dotted across the landscape like tiny islands in an expansive sea. Wildlife can make good use of a state park, but most must follow migratory and life cycle patterns across vast distances. In fact, some species, like the ovenbird, require connected tracts of hardwood forest covering hundreds of acres. Few parks and natural areas provide this amount of continuous habitat. Habitat restoration on private lands extends the wildlife corridor needed to successfully live and travel between natural areas.

Although there are many state and federal forests in the area, private ownership accounts for the vast majority of forestland in southern Illinois. Yet, few landowners have a Forest Management Plan for their woodlands. The WHIP program provides financial and technical support to enable landowners to manage their forests and natural areas for wildlife benefits.

"We’ve found that by caring for the forest in the right way, Barb and I can help the oaks and hickories along and eventually attract a wider variety of birds and animals back to the area," said Jim Short.

"By implementing a Forest Management Plan, landowners can maintain a vigorous hardwood forest," said Starr. "Forest management benefits tree growth, deters invasive species, and helps ensure a good number of dead or snag trees that are crucial for animals that den in tree cavities."

The Future Meets the Past…

Photo Caption: This ancient spring under the sandstone bluffs has provided water to generations of people.

Asked what he would hope to see on his land if he could return in 150 years, Jim does not hesitate, "I want it to look like it did 150 years ago. I want to see the abundance and the range of plants and animals that brought my family here in the first place."

Both Jim and Barb embrace their Cherokee heritage and feel that returning their land to its pre-settlement state will not only help restore southern Illinois’ natural history, but also preserve the site in the spirit of a rich human history.

Barb watches her son Jeff splash in the cool spring water, "These woods were revered by our ancestors. We want to give our grandchildren the opportunity to see the land as they did."

For ages, this property has provided for scores of people and a vast array of wildlife. Jim and Barb Short are content to know that these clear springs and abundant forests will continue to provide both physically and spiritually for man and animals in the years to come.