Rooted Thoughts from the Heartwood Chapter 6: Adele Kirk - Pick an Animal, Any Animal

When you look at a piece of land, turning big conservation goals into a step-by-step management plan can feel overwhelming. Where do you even begin when you’re facing thickets of invasive wisteria or dense stands of pine?

For ForestHer NC Board Member and landowner Adele Kirk, the turning point came down to a simple question inspired by a local property tour: What’s your animal?

In today’s guest blog post, from navigating expert advice to choosing the "magnificent and ridiculous" wild turkey as her guiding light for habitat restoration, Adele shares her personal journey of turning passion into practice on her own acreage. Whether you’re managing acres of timber or planning your first native meadow, Adele’s story is a encouraging reminder that every big conservation effort starts with a single, focused goal.

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I knew I wanted to manage my land for wildlife, but a big picture goal was just the beginning of a process. Over the years, ForestHer, NC Wildlife, and the Three Rivers land trust have helped me sketch out a plan.

We NC landowners are fortunate to have experts ready to help us one-on-one, right on our land. The NC Wildlife Resources Commission has wildlife biologists on staff to help any landowner interested in managing land for wildlife. But these experts are there to advise and guide us—it’s our land, our money and time, our goals, and our choices. They can help us get where we want to go, but we have to decide where that is.

Several years ago I attended a landowner event. We visited two properties that had been managed for wildlife for many years. I was in the ugly early stages of improving my land for wildlife—dealing with a terrible invasive wisteria problem, and site prepping a small area in a field for a meadow. We had a dense stand of loblolly that needed thinning.

At those properties I got to see what years of effort produces: pine and hardwood stands thinned enough to support a herbaceous layer below. Acres of native early successional vegetation that provides cover and food for wildlife. Acres of native grass and forbs meadow.

We learned that one of the landowners had wanted to hear bob white quail as he had as a boy. That had both motivated and informed his choices for his land—bobwhite quail need large amounts of space and cover (and that’s about all I know about quail.)

One of the Wildlife staff said that focusing on one animal’s needs could help us focus on things we could do to improve our land for that critter. Maybe a deer hunter wants bigger, more plentiful game. Our host wanted to hear a bobwhite. By prioritizing one species, of course, you raise the quality of habitat for many others. No matter who you cultivate native meadows for—deer, wild turkey, songbirds, quail, or rabbit—all will benefit from the nutritious plants and insects.

I decided on the spot that my animal would be wild turkey. Why turkey? Years ago I laughed at Benjamin Franklin’s choice of turkey as the national bird. But, I had both practical and sentimental reasons.

I already had turkey on both properties, even though the tracts of land were otherwise quite different (mostly loblolly on one, mixed hickory-oak open forest on another). So helping turkey that were already there felt doable in the throes of the wisteria war.

Wild turkey in the Southeast are a success story in conservation efforts. There are far more wild turkey in NC and other states than there had been, although those numbers have been slipping in recent years. So I would be a tiny part of a larger effort.

I also just like turkeys. They are both magnificent and ridiculous. My first memory of them is hearing them clumsily flap into the woods as I was walking down the road. I remember thinking (and asking my father), “Can they fly or not?!”

But I also love the sight of toms in the spring in a field, all blown up and strutting. I love catching sight of a hen walking quietly in my back woods or roadside. Even better, a hen with a few poults. I have learned that poults spend their first few weeks eating mostly insects. And that gave me one more reason to add native forbs. Some people plant “wildflowers” for the pollinators. But I also plant for all the insects, and for the turkey poults and other birds that eat them. I love listening for their goodnight gobble as they roost at night.

So what’s your animal? And what’s your plan for building their dream home? What land will you clear so that a whole layer of food and shelter can emerge? What seeds will you sow? And how many countless other animals will you benefit along the way?

Sincerely,

Adele Kirk