Help increase wildlife viewing opportunities for wheelchair users.
Pike, New Hampshire –-(Ammoland.com)- Join with others in support of this effort. Your investment in this project will enhance wildlife habitat and provide wheelchair users with access to scenic views and recreation.
The Upper Valley Stewardship Center, located in Pike, New Hampshire, will plant a mixture of forage crops, including cold hardy brasssicas, oats, rapeseed, clover, chickory, wheat, and peas. The annual food plots will be supplemented with plantings of perennial fruit bearing shrubs and trees. These plant species are valuable late summer and fall food sources for a wide range of game and non-game species.
These food plots will increase the habitat value of the area and draw wildlife to wheelchair accessible locations, providing viewing and hunting areas for wheelchair users.
Invest In Wheelchair Accessible Wildlife Viewing And Hunting Area
Project Cost is $10,900
- Labor $2,400
- Equipment $1,000
- Materials (Topsoil and compost) $7,000
- Materials (Seeds, bare root trees and shrubs) $700
The work will be conducted by staff of the Upper Valley Stewardship Center in partnership with students and faculty of the Oliverian School and local contractors. Soil preparation and planting will be done during the spring and summer of 2012. The Center will monitor the site each year for three years and then again in nine years when the management plan for the site is reevaluated.
More About this Project
The proposed project helps establish a wheelchair accessible wildlife viewing and hunting area. In addition to wheelchair facilities, the area consists of a wildlife friendly combination of food, water, and cover. During the late summer and fall, food availability is essential and helps bring wildlife to the area. This project will increase the productivity of late season food plots in the wildlife area. By supplementing the marginal soils of the wildlife area with topsoil and compost, the Stewardship Center can increase the productivity and extent of its food plots.
The Stewardship Center, with the support of the Oliverian School, has constructed two permanent blinds, created three additional viewing areas, and managed surrounding forests to promote woodland nut and fruit production. With Natural Resource Conservation Service cost-share funding, the Stewardship Center has begun maintaining early successional and old field habitat in the area. In 2011, the Stewardship Center also took initial steps to establish food plots in the area to further enhance its wildlife value.
Recreation and wildlife viewing is open to the public. Typical users include community members and community organization of the Upper Valley, public and private school groups, summer camps, and therapeutic organizations. The Center also serves organizations working with at-risk and under-served youth and young adults.
Hunting opportunities in this project area are open to physically disabled hunters. The facility can accommodate wheelchair bound, but we also welcome hunters with other physical disabilities too.
About the Upper Valley Stewardship Center
The Upper Valley Stewardship Center is located in Pike, New Hampshire. It is an alliance of educators, natural resource professionals, and landowners dedicated to collaborative management of a 2000 acre campus and advancing stewardship, outdoor recreation, and experiential education in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont. The Center seeks to nurture a culture of environmental awareness, physical and mental fitness, healthy communities, and long-term sustainability of the Upper Valley’s natural and cultural resources.
The Mountain Pasture Wildlife Management Area is owned and managed by the Upper Valley Stewardship Center. It is central to the mission of the Upper Valley Stewardship Center. This publicly-accessible wildlife area is being developed as a wheelchair accessible wildlife viewing and hunting area. In addition to providing these unique recreational opportunities, the area is being managed to promote habitat for declining early successional species and regional game species of high public value.
The project is nearly completion, but the Upper Valley Stewardship Center is soliciting additional funds to further improve habitat conditions and food plots in the area. To date, the Stewardship Center, with the support of the Oliverian School, has constructed two permanent blinds, created three additional viewing areas, and managed surrounding forests to promote hard and soft mast production. With NRCS cost-share funding, the Stewardship Center has begun maintaining early successional and old field habitat in the area. In 2011, the Stewardship Center also took initial steps to establish food plots in the area to further enhance its wildlife value.
For more information about this project or the Upper Valley Stewardship Center, contact: Jesse Mohr, Upper Valley Stewardship Center Executive Director. Phone: 603-989-5375
Invest In Wheelchair Accessible Wildlife Viewing And Hunting Area
The post Invest in Wheelchair Accessible Wildlife Viewing and Hunting Area appeared first on AmmoLand.com.