Why warm season grasses?
One of the habitat components lacking on many farms in Maryland is adequate nesting cover. Ideal nesting cover for many species consists of scattered clumps of herbaceous plants interspersed with bare soil or soil with only a light litter layer. Plant structure is more important than species. This structure can be difficult to create in Maryland and is typically difficult to maintain simply because our soils are so fertile. There are two ways to create nesting cover: (1) fallow management of volunteer plants by disturbing the soil (root rake, discing, fire) and managing the resulting vegetation stand; and (2) planting species that tend toward clumpy growth. In many regions of the United States, use of warm season grasses (WSG) has resulted in extraordinary rebounds of several upland game bird populations. Most warm season grasses are “bunch grasses” that grow in clumps, providing movement corridors that enable young wildlife to avoid predators and to forage for insects. Many cool seaso
