Oil
and natural gas pipelines offer huge opportunities to benefit wildlife if
they’re managed correctly. In this article, we’ll focus on a reclamation
project in north-central Pennsylvania that shows what can be accomplished when
a hunting club and an international natural-gas exploration corporation work
together.
Tom
Losch can tell you about the many benefits that come from enhancing the
wildlife habitat potential of land. He also knows how to do it. Perhaps that’s
why he’s been involved in the management of food plots for the 3,000-acre Elbow
Fish and Game Club in northern Pennsylvania for more than 30 years. His
substantial knowledge and experience also led him to an idea that has been
turned into an exceptionally successful pipeline reclamation project on the
club’s property. The idea? To develop a partnership where Elbow and Anadarko
Petroleum Corp. would work together in creating a pipeline demonstration area
to show the public the benefits a pipeline can provide when properly managed
for wildlife. Eight years ago, the Elbow Game and Fish Club in north-central Pennsylvania
leased its oil and natural gas rights to Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of the
world’s largest independent oil and natural-gas exploration and production
companies. Pursuant to the lease and related agreements, Anadarko began
construction of the main trunk of a natural-gas transmission line through the
club’s 3,000 acres three years ago and completed it the following year. Losch
pitched his idea to Mark Barbier, senior Anadarko environmental representative,
and other Anadarko representatives during a post-construction review on site in
the spring of last year. “The idea was that the club and Anadarko should work
together to actively manage the pipeline right of way to improve wildlife
habitat,” Losch said. “I wanted them to see what a huge opportunity we had to prove
to the public that a pipeline can be a huge benefit to wildlife — not just show
others what we did, but go farther and let them see the results themselves as
the project continues to evolve over time.” The idea of pipeline reclamation
certainly isn’t new to Anadarko. It restores its rights of way as a matter of
standard practice. The significance of Losch’s partnership approach is what
prompted them to accept Elbow’s proposal virtually immediately. Patrick Marty, Anadarko
staff government relations representative explained: “Anadarko consistently
works with landowners to ensure that their land-use objectives are met by our
pipeline reclamation activities," he said. "At Elbow, we immediately
recognized the ecological value in Elbow’s idea of actively managing
conservation plots on the pipeline right of way as a collaborative conservation
demonstration area, and we hope our joint efforts with the Elbow Fish and Game
Club will serve as a catalyst for more of these types of partnerships.”
First-Year Plan and Implementation
As
a result of the partnership of Elbow and Anadarko, acreage devoted to food
plots was substantially increased the first year from the 36 acres the club
already had under cultivation to 65. The 29 additional acres are along the
pipeline’s main trunk adjacent to private roads within the property and are
approximately 100 feet wide to allow more sunlight to reach the ground. Losch
and Anadarko started the process of planting the new food plot sites the right
way: by performing laboratory soil tests on each of the new food plot sites. As
they had anticipated, soil conditions were less than optimum for the growth of
high-quality forages. “A lot of the area burned back at the turn of the
century, and that burned up a lot of the humus.” Losch said. “As a result, the
soil types on our property are pretty poor. You don’t really have quality soils
for growing timber or anything else. The soil pH of our mountain soil is typically
very acidic — generally about 5.2 to 5.4 — and raising it into optimum range of
6.5 or higher requires the addition of several tons of lime per acre.” When the
new seedbeds had been limed and fertilized, they were planted entirely in
Whitetail Institute forage products, in some cases with a cover crop. “We’ve
always used Whitetail Institute products,” Losch said. “We’ve used Imperial
Whitetail Clover ever since the 1980s. It’s easy to grow, it grows well, and
the deer love it. You always want to have enough clover in the spring because
it’s the first thing to green up after winter. We planted Imperial Whitetail
Clover, Whitetail Oats Plus, Tall Tine Tubers and Winter-Greens in the new
pipeline sites this year, and I also planted Chic Magnet on top of the clover.
The Whitetail Oats Plus really worked well as a first-year crop on the
pipeline, and the deer went nuts over the Chic Magnet.”
First-Year Results — Whitetail Deer
Even
though the project is only a year old, Losch says he’s already seeing a lot
more deer. “In the past, you might see 90 to 100 deer over the entire property if
you really had a good evening in the late summer," he said. "Now, you’ll
see anywhere from 95 to 145 deer— and that’s just on the pipeline. Most of them
are does and fawns at this point. I remember one night we were driving back to
the cabin, and there were so many deer on the road beside the pipeline that I
thought, ‘This is like a whitetail nursery.’ I was afraid I’d be the first
person in the history of the club to ever run over a deer because they were all
over the pipeline coming into it from all directions. It was just amazing. The
attraction it had was just phenomenal.” According to Barbier, trail cameras set
up along the right of way support Losch’s conclusion that deer numbers have
increased. “They set up game cameras along the right-of-way,” he said.
"The pictures show that deer are using the right-of-way as a food source and
a travel corridor, not only at night but also during day. The deer are coming
to the property, and they’re staying.” The bucks harvested on the club’s
property are also starting to get bigger and heavier, according to Losch. “The
size of them and the amount of body fat absolutely increased this year,"
he said. "We shot three that were about 190 pounds. I also have a picture
of another deer that I believe weighs 230 to 240 pounds on the hoof.” Losch
added that the antler size is also increasing, which says a lot considering the
property is in Pennsylvania. “Deer are heavily pressured in Pennsylvania, and
most bucks aren’t allowed to grow old," he said. "Also, bucks in our
mountain area tend to have smaller racks than elsewhere in the state. You might
shoot bucks with 140- to 150-inch racks. That’s about all the time they’re given
to grow before they’re killed. “Before the pipeline project, we took about a
dozen bucks a year on average, and most of them were 1-½ years old and had
smaller racks. This year, we took some 120s and 130s and a 140. I also have
trail camera pictures of another buck, and although I’m not the best at judging
rack size from a picture, I think it might be pushing 150. “To be clear, I
can’t say that the increases in antler size among the bucks we harvested this
year are attributable to the additional nutrition being supplied by the new
pipeline plots because we’ve only had those plots for one year. I believe we’ll
see antler size improving because of increased nutrition in two or three years
down the road. But I can attribute this year’s improvement to the additional
attraction of the new plots. They have helped draw that class of buck to the
property, and they’ve improved our chances of harvesting them by making them
more visible.”
Turkeys
Tom
has also observed a huge increase in the club’s turkey population just in the
past year. “The understory on most of the club’s property is mountain laurel, which
is a desert for turkeys,” he said. "Before the project, you might occasionally
see turkeys in a field in spring, and maybe one turkey through summer or fall
on certain parts of the property that had open timber. Now, I see turkeys
almost every time I go to the property, and in multiple places. Every few days,
I’ll see a flock of turkeys feeding on the pipeline. In 50 years I’ve never
seen so many turkeys.”
Other Wildlife
Losch
said an inherent benefit of the pipeline right away is its edge effect. “Anyone
who has a biology or a wildlife background knows exactly what edge effect
means,” he said. “We created open areas when we took the trees out for the
pipeline. That allows more sunlight to reach the ground, and that’s going to
stimulate the growth of seedlings that might have lain dormant there and create
a whole new growth of understory. As a result, we’re starting to see some
rabbits — definitely seeing that — and of course when you’re way up in the
mountains it’s kind of uncommon to see rabbits. And it’s going to be attractive
to additional species of songbirds, such as bluebirds, indigo buntings and
cardinals because we’ve created a much better habitat for them.” Project
Biologist Kevin Yoder also sees the huge positive effect the project has had on
wildlife habitat and cites Elbow and Anadarko’s partnership approach as a major
contributor. “I think that what Elbow and Anadarko are teaming up to do here is
a great partnership and really an example of what reclamation and restoration
of a pipeline can do for wildlife," he said. "We’re going to have
brood habitat on the pipeline. We’re going to have golden-winged warbler
habitat in the forest. We’re going to see more and healthier deer.” As
successful as the project’s first year has been, Elbow and Anadarko are still
hard at work preparing to build on their initial success. For example, the
partners plan to extend habitat management to an additional 16 acres along
gathering lines, which transport natural gas to the main pipeline trunk. Losch
said that he will also be adjusting the club’s forage plan over the next few
years to find the perfect balance of seasonal forage availability for wildlife.
“Once we get the soil pH brought up in the 29 acres along the main trunk of the
pipeline, those 29 acres won’t be all Imperial Whitetail Clover. We’re going to
start using some of the new acreage to plant more winter food such as Tall Tine
Tubers and Winter-Greens. Because of natural browse and the Imperial Whitetail
Clover we already have planted, the deer have plenty of early spring, summer
and early fall food, but they still don’t have enough winter food,” Losch said.
Educating Others
So
far in this article, we’ve focused primarily on the project’s many benefits to
wildlife. Even so, the most far-reaching benefit of the project may be the
opportunities it provides for educating others. “When oil and gas companies
approach you for a right of way, it shouldn’t be viewed as a negative impact to
the land,” Barbier said. “In Pennsylvania, there’s quite a bit of forest, and
if you do want a food plot, a lot of times you have to do some clearcutting or
timbering. The cost of that is paid for by the company, and it gives the
landowner an opportunity to use new food plot areas that may have been out of reach
previously.” As Losch explained, “many landowners in north-central Pennsylvania
simply did not have the financial resources to devote to wildlife food plots in
the past. But with the explosion in oil and natural gas development of the
Marcellus Shale these landowners now have the money to devote to such projects.
The demonstration area has given us a way to show them what can happen when a
pipeline is managed for wildlife habitat. We are giving the wildlife a
smorgasbord — an overabundance of food on this pipeline — and we can show people,
‘Look at all the deer. Look at all the turkeys.’ They see for themselves the
benefits a pipeline can have when it’s managed the right way,” he said.
“Anadarko has also brought in government representatives, national media and
people from Great Britain and as far away as Uzbekistan to witness firsthand the
positive impact Anadarko’s development of natural gas on our property has had
and is continuing to provide.” “Because of the partnership, we’ve been very
successful here,” Yoder said. “I really like that we’ve been able to put so
many people in different organizations together and make good habitat and meet multiple
objectives, and I think they’ll be reaping rewards for many years to come.”
Final Thoughts
The
Whitetail Institute applauds the working relationship between Elbow and
Anadarko. By taking the initiative, Elbow’s and Anadarko’s efforts toward
developing the pipeline as a demonstration area have helped improve wildlife
habitat and create an excellent educational tool for the public. Anadarko and
other companies like them are sometimes ostracized by far left
environmentalists, even though the energy it helps provide is critical to our
country’s economy. The Elbow pipeline project proves Anadarko’s willingness to
step up to the plate and spend the money to leave the land in better shape than
it found it, especially for wildlife. As we’ve discussed, the Elbow pipeline
has already yielded a wide range of substantial benefits, from improvements in
wildlife habitat to educating the public. In reality, though, those benefits
support something much broader: the concept of stewardship or the careful and
responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. Here’s how
Whitetail Institute Vice President Steve Scott explained the stewardship
perspective: “There are lots of anti-hunting groups and organizations out there
who say they stand for conservation or wildlife, but whose only activities are
negative, in my opinion. What separates all of us who plant food plots apart
from the antis is that what we’re doing is a positive that actually benefits
wildlife. That’s the very same thing that’s unique about the Whitetail
Institute’s industry segment, which the Whitetail Institute started more than
25 years ago. What we provide is not a faster bullet. It’s not a better camo.
Things like that are very important to the longevity of our way of life, but
they don’t directly benefit the animal we’re hunting. Whitetail Institute
develops the very best food plot products and other deer-nutrition products we
can because our customers want more deer and better deer to hunt, but at the
end of the day, that’s also the only thing in the hunting industry that
directly benefits the animals we hunt as well as other wildlife, from songbirds
to rabbits. “And when you look at the far-reaching effects of what hunters have
given back in the way of protecting wild areas, helping endangered species
recover, and generally improving the land for all wildlife, everyone who plants
food plots are really some of the most effective environmentalists in the
world. And I’ve even had a few anti-hunters actually compliment us on what
we’re doing. They might not like the fact that we hunt, but they do say they
appreciate the fact that what we do actually benefits the animals being
targeted and other wildlife as well. It makes us feel great to know that we’re
having such a positive impact on the land and on the wildlife.”
