WATERFOWL NESTING: HIGHWAY RIGHT-OF-WAY MOVING VERSUS SUCCESSION

Waterfowl nesting was compared on early and later successional blocks of land along a 23-mile (37 km) section of Interstate 94 right-of-way in Stutsman County, North Dakota. Alternate one-mile (1.6 km) blocks of the study area were maintained in an early successional stage by annual fall mowing; the remaining one-mile (1.6 km) blocks, representing later successional stages, were left unmowed. No change was detected in the unmowed nesting preference from 1969 to 1972 as the vegetation became successively older. Success in unmowed blocks continually declined from 1969 to 1972. For highest waterfowl production in the duck-producing regions along I-94, the vegetation should be ketp in the earlier stages of ecological succession. To accomplish this, it is recommended that the Highway Department set up a rotational mowing policy at three-year intervals; i.e., one-third of the area would be totally mowed each year. Mowing, as in the past, would be a haying operation. The vegetation would be cut, bailed, and removed from the area.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by North Dakota State Highway Department and prepared in cooperation with DOT, Fedral Highway Administration.
• Corporate Authors:

  North Dakota State University, Fargo

  Department of Zoology
  Fargo, ND  United States  58102
• Authors:
  • Voorhees, L D
• Publication Date: 1977-1

Media Info

• Pagination: 72 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Birds; Ecology; Highway maintenance; Mowing; Sets; Vegetation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Nesting; Right of way
• Subject Areas: Design; Environment; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00158059
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-ND-77-4 Final Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: HPR-PL-TQX-1(13)
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Oct 13 1977 12:00AM