Kentucky Private Land Habitat Management

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Kentucky Private Land Habitat Management

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KDFWR provides information on how to manage the habitat on your property to meet your wildlife goals.

This page is managed by KY Department of Fish and Wildlife's Private Lands Management Program. The programs goal is to provide technical guidance on habitat management to landowners across the Commonwealth. To learn more about the program please follow this page and visit https://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Improve-Your-Land-for-Wildlife.aspx. To learn more about the Department’s mission and programs, please visit https://fw.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx.

11/09/2026

One of the keys to creating quality waterfowl habitat is having water in the right places at the right time. Shallow water areas can provide excellent feeding and resting habitat for migrating ducks and geese, especially when managed properly.

Putting boards in early and holding water ahead of fall migration can make a big difference. Instead of waiting until migration is underway, start managing water levels early to capture and retain rainfall when it comes.

The goal isn’t necessarily to have the deepest water or flood everything as quickly as possible. It’s about creating a variety of shallow water depths, maintaining natural food sources, and having water available when migrating waterfowl need it.

Good waterfowl habitat starts long before the first ducks show up. Planning ahead, managing water levels, and making the most of every rainfall can help turn your shallow water areas into valuable habitat throughout the migration season.

11/08/2026

Kentucky’s 2026 Silk Balloon Festival: Coming to an airspace near you!
To be clear, pilots of these silk balloons tend to fly solo and sport eight legs.
Spider ballooning (also called kiting) is a natural phenomenon where spiders use silk threads to catch the wind and electric fields to travel through the air.
• It is driven by electricity, not just wind: While a gentle breeze helps, scientific research shows that the Earth's electric field provides a key upward electrostatic force to lift spiders into the air.
• The "tiptoe" stance: To launch, a spider climbs to a high point (like a blade of grass or fence post), raises its abdomen into the air, and releases fine silk threads from its spinnerets.
• Charged silk repels itself: The unspooled silk threads take on a negative charge, causing them to fan out into a triangular parachute-like shape without tangling.
• They can travel thousands of miles: Journeys range from just a few yards to hundreds or thousands of miles. Ballooning spiders have been recorded flying at altitudes of 15,000 feet and landing on ships 1,000 miles out at sea.
• Mostly done by baby spiders: Tiny spiderlings use ballooning as a passive way to disperse, avoid overcrowding, and escape cannibalism from their siblings after hatching.
• Pioneer colonizers: Ballooning spiders are often the very first land animals to arrive on newly formed volcanic islands.
• Visual Impact: On calm, dry fall days, thousands of drifting silk threads can blanket fields, plants, or vehicles, which is a normal occurrence rather than a health hazard. Note: Dangerous species, such as black widow and brown recluse, do not use this method to migrate.

Autumn balloon dispersals often go unnoticed by US residents, but as these pictures demonstrate, Australian arachnids advertise their launch in a more dramatic fashion.

11/02/2026

This forest stand had a timber harvest about 2 years ago. Some of the canopy has been removed and allowed sunlight to shine on the forest floor. Equipment had also disturbed the soil. This combination has stimulated early successional vegetation. Herbaceous growth like blackberries, greenbrier, and pokeweed have emerged. Saplings and other woody browse are also present. Brush piles were created after the harvest which also provide cover. The stand now has food and cover/nesting for diverse groups of wildlife because of added sunlight. Not only is the natural revegetation visible, but the landowner has seen the effects and how wildlife has used it.

More songbirds are seen picking berries and nesting in vegetation. Turkey and deer have been spotted using its travel corridors, and hotspots for bedding have been located. Game cameras have more and many different species appearing than before. Soon disturbance will need to be put into practice to maintain or set back succession. This desired vegetation can also be achieved through timber stand improvements like hack-n-sq**rt, hinge cutting, and girdling.

Reach out to a local private lands biologist for guidance on improving your forests!

10/30/2026

This is a great time of the year to get into your forests to identify and treat invasive species such as Bush Honeysuckle! As our native plants are going into dormancy many invasive species are still growing. This tendance for them to grow after native plants become dormant is one of many methods they use to out compete native flora. However, these plants will become dormant soon as well and during this period leading up to then they are beginning to store nutrients in their root systems for winter. This allows for herbicide uptake and effectiveness to be greatly increased. So, get out there over the next few weeks and use whatever treatment method works best for you and your property!

10/26/2026

There are many landscapes found in Kentucky that need good habitat management, one important but often overlooked landscape type is the glades of Kentucky. Glades are unique natural habitats characterized by rocky outcrops, shallow soils, native grasses, and beautiful wildflowers. These special areas provide important habitat for native plants, pollinators, and wildlife.

Over time, woody vegetation, including eastern red cedar, can encroach on open glades and change the habitat. Through proper habitat management, we can help maintain these open areas and protect the species that depend on them.

A couple of the important items that we want to manage are:
- Promotion of native warm season grasses and wildflowers.
- Help control unwanted woody encroachment.
- Protect rare and specialized native plant communities.
- And preserve a unique natural habitat for future generations.

If you think you may have a Glade habitat that you want to protect and improve reach out to a Private Land’s Biologist today.

10/19/2026

As winter approaches, we can start thinking about how to create thermal cover for wildlife. Wildlife must find ways to stay warm, sheltered, and protected from predators when vegetation is sparse. One simple, but very beneficial way, is through the construction of brush piles! Brush piles provide shelter for a variety of wildlife including rabbits, squirrels, songbirds, reptiles, small mammals, and provide resources for insects and other invertebrates that serve as food for many wildlife species.

So don’t haul away those limbs in your yard just yet! Consider creating a brush pile in a corner of your yard or along a woodland edge next to a field. Brush piles can be made from fallen branches, twigs, logs, and other natural materials. You may also use scrap building lumber, wooden pallets, rocks, concrete blocks, or other materials that may create a safeguard for wildlife. Start with larger logs and branches at the bottom to create open spaces, then layer smaller branches and twigs on top for cover. Be creative when choosing how, where, and from what materials you make this important component of good wildlife cover. Helping wildlife can be as simple as leaving a little nature behind.

10/16/2026

Learn & Burn opportunity in Edmonson County!

If you have taken the KPFC 8 Hour Crewmember Training Course you're eligible to attend. If you haven't, keep your eyes out on our page for the next opportunity so you can join us on our next Learn & Burn!

Sign up link: https://forms.gle/oRxvcyQPFcvM49X39

10/13/2026

🔥 Have you heard of a Prescribed Burn Association (PBA)? 🌾🦌

Prescribed fire is one of the most effective tools for improving wildlife habitat, managing invasive plants, maintaining grasslands, and restoring native ecosystems across Kentucky. But getting a safe, successful burn accomplished takes planning, equipment, and a knowledgeable team!

That’s where Prescribed Burn Associations come in!

A Prescribed Burn Association is a network of landowners, land managers, conservation professionals, and trained volunteers who work together to safely and effectively conduct prescribed burns on private lands. Members share knowledge, equipment, labor, and experience to help one another accomplish their habitat management goals.

Through a PBA you can:

✅ Learn from others – Gain hands-on experience, learn proper burn planning, and connect with people who share your conservation goals.

✅ Share resources and equipment – Prescribed fire can require specialized equipment and plenty of helping hands. A PBA helps members work together to make burns more achievable.

✅ Become part of your local conservation community – Build relationships with fellow landowners, wildlife professionals, and prescribed fire practitioners who want to improve Kentucky’s landscape.

📣 Interested in prescribed fire or finding a PBA in Kentucky?

You don't have to do it alone! We now have two PBAs working on getting members together right here in KY. Yellow Banks Prescribed Burn Association (Western KY) & Bluegrass Prescribed Burn Association. Check them out!

10/09/2026

Grab your hatchet or fire up your chainsaw, it’s FSI time! If you have forest stand improvement projects planned, fall is by far the best time to tackle those. Not only is it the most pleasant time to be in the woods due to the cool weather, but the timing also optimizes the herbicide uptake when using common cut stem injection techniques like hack and sq**rt or girdle and spray. Since trees spend the fall pulling carbohydrates downward into their root systems in preparation for the dormant season, that means they also draw the herbicide fully into the roots. With an appropriate herbicide mixture, you can extend this treatment window into early winter and still achieve your objective. For more information regarding mixtures, timing, tree selection, and other site-specific details, contact your county’s Private Lands Biologist!

10/05/2026

It’s time to start thinking about water for waterfowl! Fall migration is underway, and October is a good time for landowners and wildlife managers to begin holding water in managed impoundments. This can be achieved by gradually adding water to areas with desirable moist soil vegetation that will provide valuable resources for migrating and wintering waterfowl. You can hold a variety of water depths for different waterfowl species. Shallow impoundments offer dabbling ducks and geese access to natural foods such as seeds, aquatic invertebrates, and other resources they need during migration.

It is important to slowly increase water levels over time to keep new food resources available as season progresses. Regularly check impoundments to ensure desirable water levels are being maintained. The table below from the Wetland Management for Waterfowl Handbook, provides examples of species response to three different water level scenarios in moist-soil impoundments. Planning now can go a long way toward creating quality resources for waterfowl this fall and winter!

Address

1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort, KY
40601

Website

https://fw.ky.gov/

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