PART II - WOODLAND MANAGEMENT FOR AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES
The woodlands on private property are valuable areas for wildlife and, with practical management, can be productive for many kinds of wildlife. Because nearly 90 percent of Missouri's timberland is privately owned, it is important that landowners become interested and involved in wildlife habitat production.
Producing a diversified wooded area is the key to managing for nongame wildlife. The more complex a forest, the more food and shelter it provides for wildlife. Selective thinning of a woodland will develop valuable open spaces. The trees you cut which are of high quality are salable; poor quality trees are usable as firewood. The open area and increased edge area along the wood lot margins will allow for the growth of shrubs and non-woody plants. If you practice intensive management of a wood lot for wildlife, you must exclude livestock grazing.
Forest Management Tips
Selective cutting to open up sections of a wood lot allows undergrowth to increase. However, large dead trees should be left standing to furnish den trees. Several species of lizards and the harmless black rat snake will use these trees for shelter. Skinks lay their eggs inside dead standing trees. If den trees are not available, you could produce some by girdling old or deformed trees. Providing at least one den tree per acre is desirable.
One of the most effective methods of managing for amphibians and reptiles is to increase the number of natural shelters such as old logs of all sizes, bark slabs or slash and small brush piles on the forest floor. The logs and slash provide habitat for many salamanders, lizards and snakes. Placing old or rotten logs on the north-facing side of a forested hill will provide valuable habitat for the redback and slimy salamanders. Logs and bark slabs on the south-facing side of forested hill will attract lizards and snakes.
The increased production of undergrowth and young trees in a wood lot provides better habitat for the three-toed box turtle (especially baby turtles) and increases the food supply for many forms of wildlife. The tiny spring peeper, a type of treefrog, needs thick undergrowth for hiding. This habitat also supports insects, the peeper's food supply.
Building several ponds in and near the edge of timberlands is a valuable practice for management of woodland amphibians and reptiles. Although many adult salamanders spend their lives under rocks or logs, they need woodland ponds for egg laying. Spotted and tiger salamanders migrate to ponds in early spring to court and lay their eggs. The central newt, on the other hand, lives in woodland ponds as an adult, but the aquatic larvae leaves the pond in late summer to spend from one to three years as an "eft" under logs and in leaf litter. The ringed salamander, which is found only in the Ozarks, migrates to woodland ponds in the fall. Its larvae remain in the pond until the next summer.
Snakes such as garter, ribbon and the yellowbelly racer also will use the area around woodland ponds--especially if there are enough shelters.
Putting out rocks, old boards, tar paper, pieces of corrugated sheet metal, and other objects will furnish hiding places for amphibians and reptiles. Place this type of shelter near the edge of ponds, near clearings in wood lots, along fence rows or in areas where natural shelters are lacking. We are not advocating turning private lands into garbage dumps, but with a bit of imagination a landowner can use these objects effectively without defacing his land. These shelters should be disturbed as little as possible.
Forest lizards such as the southern coal skink, ground skink and northern fence lizard will benefit from an increase in available hiding places. The same is true for small, harmless forest snakes such as brown snakes, redbelly snakes, earth snakes and the red milk snake.
Forest Species
Most of the amphibians and reptiles listed in the farm pond sections are also residents of woodlands. The species listed below are additional animals that may live in timberlands:
Salamanders
- Dark-sided Salamander
- Cave Salamander
- Southern Redback Salamander
- Slimy Salamander
Toads and Frogs
- Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad, (and most species listed under Part I)
Turtles
- Three-toed Box Turtle
Lizards
- Northern Fence Lizard
- Six-lined Racerunner
- Southern Coal Skink
- Five-line Skink
- Broadhead Skink
- Ground Skink
Snakes
- Western Worm Snake
- Eastern Yellowbelly Racer
- Mississippi Ringneck Snake
- Black Rat Snake
- Great Plains Rat Snake
- Eastern Hognose Snake
- Red Milk Snake
- Speckled King Snake
- Midland Brown Snake
- Northern Redbelly Snake
- Earth Snake
