Designing shelterbelts for pheasant winter cover

Like most businesses, the Monday morning conversations at Pheasants Forever revolve around the weekend's hunting and fishing adventures with a side of weather talk. My morning started off with a fascinating lesson on shelterbelts from Ron Leathers, Pheasants Forever's Public Finance Director and a certified wildlife biologist. Considering another winter storm is forecasted to hit Pheasants Forever's National Headquarters in Minnesota again this evening, it seemed appropriate to post today about winter cover in spite of it being April on the calendar.

A shelterbelt's effectiveness in creating winter cover for pheasants, as I learned during my conversation with Leathers, centers on proper design.

This graphic illustrates a typical shelterbelt layout in relationship to wind direction and farmstead
Northwest

Because winter winds and snow blow from the north and west, shelterbelts should be constructed with the idea of blocking these winds from the areas you are most focused on "protecting" from the elements.

Snow Catch

According to Leathers, snow will pile for up to 10 times the height of your first row of trees. In other words, if your front row of trees are 10 feet high, then snow will pile up behind that row for 100 feet. Consequently, it's important to recognize the need to have considerably more than 100 feet behind that first row if you plan to provide any suitable amount of winter cover.

Lift Trees

Thermal Cover

The inner-most portion of a shelter belt should include four or more rows of thick thermal cover, like evergreens. This thickest of covers provides ground level protection from wind and heavy snows during severe winter storms.

Added Benefits of Shelterbelts

A well-designed shelterbelt can effectively protect buildings and roadways from drifting snow and can cut winter heating bills by 30 percent. Shelterbelts aid in livestock ranching by trimming feed costs by affording protection from chilling winds. And a beautiful grove of trees can also increase a farmstead's property value.

Ron showed me this shelterbelt around a wetland as an example. It features a good snow catch and interior lift, but the spacing is too narrow and it lacks protection from the north. As a result most of the cover tends to fill in with snow without maximizing winter cover potential for pheasants. You can learn more about shelter belts, winter cover and other important tips for creating habitat on your own property by purchasing Pheasants Forever's Essential Habitat Guide for a mere $2.95. It's priced so affordably because we want it in the hands of anyone interested in creating habitat.