Pennsylvania Game News - August 2020 - 24

YOU CAN HELP
With private land making up 83 percent of
Pennsylvania, there are enormous opportunities for landowners to manage wildlife habitat.
While participating in the Wild Pheasant
Recovery Area project, many landowners took
out of production fields or field borders that
were losing money, and turned them into habitat
that helped to turn a profit, while conserving
wildlife, decreasing soil erosion, increasing soil
health and improving water quality.
You don't have to have large acreage to
convert it all to grass. Speak with one of the
biologists in the Game Commission's Private
Landowner Assistance Program. They help property owners develop long-term plans to manage
their properties for wildlife at no cost.
Pheasants Forever biologists also can assist in
advising on cost-share programs offered through
U.S. Department of Agriculture, and guide landowners through the process from application to
establishment.

While habitat was being established,
translocation work began.
Pheasants Forever chapters in Somerset, Montour, Franklin and Schuylkill
counties all partnered with Habitat Forever and the Game Commission to coordinate the trap-and-transfer of wild pheasants from South Dakota and Montana.
Each WPRA was to receive 300 pheasants annually for three consecutive years.
When habitat was ready, birds would be
released and research would be planned
to collect habitat, survival, nesting, home
range and other data.
With warm-season grass fields spotting
more of the landscape, pheasant releases
began in the Central Susquehanna WPRA
in 2007. Two years later, it had received
992 wild birds.
The Somerset WPRA had 964 wild
pheasants by 2011. The Hegins-Gratz
Valley WPRA got 300 birds in 2011.
But a decline in Midwest pheasants
pinched further shipments. And when
24

Franklin County WPRA came online in
2014, only 72 wild pheasants could be
secured.
No other wild pheasants were translocated into Pennsylvania following the
final release in 2014. In all, 2,328 pheasants - including 1,930 females - were
released into WPRAs.
Research and monitoring of pheasants and habitat helped managers understand population dynamics, not only for
WPRAs, but also much larger areas.
Hen survival varied across WPRAs
and study areas, but on average, 34.4
percent of released hens survived their
first 20 weeks.
It wasn't surprising that their first two
weeks in WPRAs, as they attempted to
acclimate, by far, were their most difficult.
After two weeks, there was a dramatic
increase in the survival of newly released
birds. And a telemetry study of resident
hens - those that were either part of the
initial release or that had been raised on
WPRAs - found their survival rates were
more than 20 percent higher than those of
newly released pheasants.
Telemetry also helped define pheasant
home range, or where pheasants spend
most of their time. The 32 pheasants
monitored had an average home range
of 207 acres, although it varied widely.
The smallest was 10 acres and the largest,
over 1,000.
Compared to previously published
research, these birds had much smaller
home ranges, which was thought a direct
result of habitat limitations.
Movement and dispersal came in at
an average of about one-third of a mile.
The farthest movement, however, was 4.2
miles, proving these birds would travel to
find quality habitat and mates.
Surveying habitat within the WPRAs
helped researchers sort out where pheas-

Pennsylvania Game News - August 2020

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