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Farming often gets a bad rap from environmentalists but farming and land stewardship can certainly go hand in hand. For generations, farmers have lived and worked alongside natural areas to grow food for their communities. Nature can sometimes present challenges but it is possible for farming and conservation to be a mutually beneficial partnership.
Although the advantages of coexisting with wildlife habitat and wildlife are sometimes not immediately obvious, once the effort is made to start working with wildlife instead of against, the benefits can include improved pest control, reduced flood risk, cleaner water, and even increased fruit yields.
The Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society (OSS) works directly with local farmers and landowners in order to assist them in caring for important natural areas on their owned and managed properties. Through our Wildlife Habitat Steward program, we currently partner with over 100 landowners in the Okanagan and Similkameen who care for a combined 5,900 acres of wildlife habitat, much of which is habitat in and around orchards and vineyards. Many Stewards conserve the natural habitat on their farms by just letting it be, while others actively work at restoring or improving farm biodiversity.
Recently, OSS has compiled a Farming With Wildlife primer that highlights different ways that working with nature and natural areas can benefit the farm. In addition to information on how natural spaces can work for you, the primer also includes examples of different conservation-minded practices for farms, water-saving tips, and case studies of local farmers going above and beyond to make space for local wildlife. Here are two simple ways to start coexisting with local wildlife and wildlife habitat on your property.
Natural Vegetation Buffers
There is little to no downside in planting and/or maintaining a native plant buffer, a thick strip of shrubby native plants along waterways, ponds, and wetlands. Not only do the plant roots maintain the integrity of the banks and help prevent serious erosion, they also act as a filtration system to help remove leachates, excess fertilizer, and other pollutants from water runoff before it reaches and potentially contaminates the larger water system. In addition, a buffer that also incorporates flowering plants and shrubs will attract and provide habitat for many important native pollinators and helpful predatory insects.
Integrated Pest Management
In addition to the predatory insects living in your new vegetation buffer, you can improve management of pest insects by inviting their predators to your farm. Nest boxes and bat boxes are a great way to encourage insect-eating wildlife to hang around. A single pair of tree swallows can feed their chicks over five thousand insects every day. Bats are also voracious insect predators, often eating 600 insects in an hour during the night as well. If rodents and starlings are more the issue, there are also larger nest boxes that can attract small hawks and owls. Larger birds of prey are often attracted to tall roosting T-posts or nest platforms. Attracting natural predators can have a huge effect on the number of pests on a farm and can go a long way in reducing pesticide use on the farm.
For more information on the Wildlife Habitat Stewardship Program, visit www.osstewardship.ca/resources. For a full PDF file or print copy, please contact Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship at info@osstewardship.ca or 250-770-1467.