Habitat Solutions Wildlife and Forest Mgmt

03/26/2026

What a week of burning! 3 weeks ago it looked like we may not do much burning at all this season. Then mother nature decided to cooperate. 7 burns in 5 days. We wrapped up the season today with a detailed prescription burn in a high-quality white oak stand. The goal was to release developing oak seedlings from competition, while not damaging the merchantible oak trees. Lots of clearing around high value trees and using firing techniques that minimize heat around high value stems. Took a veteran crew, but we got it done!

03/20/2026

Completed a rx burn today of an old field. This field had lots of native shrubs , but was also choked with non-native tall fescue, multiflora rose and autumn olive. Burning will make it easier for us to follow up with herbicide treatments to eliminate the invasive plants. The thin regrowth will also be useful foraging and brood rearing habitat for many wildlife species!

02/05/2026

With Winter firmly established, we look forward to our Spring activities! The last 2 years we have been able to assist our clients that were participating in the USDA - Forestry for the Birds program. This program assists landowners by helping them make the connection between forest management activities and some of the bird species that use the resulting habitat. Part of the requirements of the program are to conduct breeding bird surveys, to document the bird species currently using their woodlands. We can then use these results, to help develop a forest stand improvement prescription. This prescription can help steer their forest habitat towards providing the characteristics needed by the desired species.

With both Certified Foresters and a Certified Wildlife Biologist on staff, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients succeed in programs like "Forestry for the Birds".

07/01/2025

Habitat Solutions is proud to announce the hiring of Zane Smoldt. Zane is a Purdue - Forestry and Natural Resources grad, with an emphasis in Forest Mgmt and Forest Products. He will make a great addition to our crew as we continue to serve private forest landowners in Indiana!

05/09/2025

Today, Habitat Solutions planted our one millionth tree. Converting open spaces back to our native hardwood forests is one of the most rewarding practices we conduct!

04/28/2025

Evaluating one of our forest management sites.

03/11/2025

Good start to our burn season so far. One woodland burn to encourage Oak regeneration. One pollinator plot burn to maintain forbe/wildflower production. Several more to go!

01/18/2025

Another example of how important Oaks are to wildlife!

10/31/2024

The end of our invasive plant mgmt season is usually focused on treating Japanese Honeysuckle. It is still actively growing and susceptible to foliar herbicide applications, but the trees it is climbing have gone dormant and will be unaffected by the herbicide.

09/10/2024

Come join us later this month to discuss and observe forest management!

08/02/2024

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/indiana/news/from-dream-to-reality-bryan-schmeisers?sf196800518=1&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2aORZnBmf2R1mdv9yCNkiuAcQUbAdz-l6efFZQ_TkFlL7pdBTiXyeAE6k_aem_OEA9ha-Qzp8jo38bnh1viw

Forestry for the Birds is an innovative program designed by the Sam Shine Foundation and The Nature Conservancy to provide landowners with the tools they need to enhance habitat for forest dependent songbirds experiencing population declines.