Wildlife Habitat Abounds at Arbor Day Farm

Wildlife, in its glorious diversity and color, can be found year-round at Arbor Day Farm.

This red fox makes its home in the ravine ecosystem along the Tree House Trail at Arbor Day Farm.

A night hike introduces visitors to Arbor Day Farm's nocturnal residents, like this curious raccoon.

Trees, shrubs, and other woody perennials offer many benefits for the earth, with one often overlooked value being the protection this greenery offers wildlife. The Wildlife Habitat site lets visitors to Arbor Day Farm see just how the South Table Creek Forest provides food and shelter for countless living things, as guests see and hear some of the birds and animals that call Arbor Day Farm home. It also explains the layers of a forest, and the plants and animals that live in each layer.

More than 165 species of birds live in or visit the South Table Creek Forest, along with mammals large and small. These include white-tailed deer, raccoons, fox squirrels, red fox, rabbits, opossum, groundhogs, and muskrat. It's possible to sight a coyote, skunk, beaver, or one of the many small rodents that thrive in the forest.

Arbor Day Farm is also rich in plant life. As well as seeing the famed apple trees, visitors will discover such trees as the white mulberry, honeylocust, tuliptree, hackberry, black cherry, catalpa, hazelnut, shagbark hickory, linden, osage orange, green ash, and several varieties of oak.

The Wildlife Habitat interpretive site offers fresh insights into the rich life of the forest, from the upper canopy to the shrub layer or understory, to the field layer, consisting of ferns, grasses, and flowers, and to the forest floor itself. Each region is home to its own unique life forms, a world visitors to Arbor Day Farm can explore in a personal, first-hand way. Such an understanding of the habitat value of Arbor Day Farm is an appreciation of the best the Farm has to offer both its human and wildlife guests.

Principles you can use…

Attracting wildlife can make your backyard or woodlot a special place for family and friends. Even small spaces can be appropriate wild bird and butterfly gardens and back-yard wildlife habitats. Providing food, the shelter of leaves and branches, and a source of clean water can turn your yard into a natural haven for birds, insects, and many kinds of animals. Planting a wide variety of trees with high food value is the best way to increase your pleasure from viewing wildlife.

To learn more…

Two free publications from The Arbor Day Foundation will give you tips on how to attract wildlife to your home or yard. For your free copy of "The Tree Book" and "Conservation Trees," write to: The Arbor Day Foundation, 211 N. 12th Street, Lincoln, NE 68508.

Web sites:

More information on wildlife habitat can be found at the following Web sites:

The National Arbor Day Foundation Tree Store, to learn about trees that are desirable for wildlife (trees can also be ordered from this site)

The Natural Resources Conservation Service - for helpful information on backyard conservation