EDGEFIELD, S.C. — For more than a decade, the Iowa State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation has helped support habitat work across southern Iowa through a partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Grand River Wildlife Unit.
That partnership continued this year as the Iowa NWTF Super Fund helped offset the cost of leasing a 140-horsepower tractor used to conduct habitat management activities on public lands spanning seven counties. Combined with support from the Iowa DNR, the project represents a total investment of $12,450.
While a tractor may not be the first thing that comes to mind when discussing wild turkey conservation, the equipment has become an essential tool in creating and maintaining quality habitat for wild turkeys and countless other wildlife species.
“For the last 13 years, we’ve relied on a leased tractor to accomplish many of our habitat goals,” said Josh Rusk, natural resource technician with the Iowa DNR. “The support we get from NWTF toward this tractor lease is huge. This tractor is critical to achieving our habitat goals.”
The tractor supports management activities across nearly 20,000 acres of public wildlife areas in Madison, Adair, Adams, Union, Ringgold, Decatur and Taylor counties. Each year, it is used to spray invasive fescue, conduct early disking, establish food plots and maintain firebreaks for prescribed burns.
Managers use the equipment to treat approximately 150 acres of invasive fescue annually, promoting native grasses and forbs that provide valuable brood habitat. Another 60 acres of early successional disking creates openings rich in insects and beneficial vegetation for poults and other upland wildlife. The tractor is also used to establish roughly 200 acres of food plots and maintain firebreaks that allow habitat managers to conduct prescribed burns across thousands of acres.
“Utilizing these attachments is essential for creating annual disturbance for brood-rearing habitat, establishing firebreaks for prescribed burns, preparing sites for native prairie seedings, spraying food plots and much more,” Rusk said. “These practices benefit wild turkeys and a wide variety of other wildlife species while improving hunting opportunities on Iowa’s public lands.”
In recent years, prescribed fire supported by those firebreaks has treated more than 6,000 acres of grasslands and timber, helping control invasive species and promote healthy woodland understories. Combined with edge feathering and other habitat practices, those efforts are expected to improve nesting success and brood survival for wild turkeys while benefiting a broad suite of game and nongame species.
For the Iowa NWTF State Chapter, the project is another example of how Super Fund dollars help conservation partners deliver meaningful results on the landscape. Though often operating behind the scenes, the tractor has quietly become one of the most important tools supporting habitat work and public hunting opportunities across southern Iowa.
The NWTF’s Super Fund is a funding model through which volunteers raise money at banquets and other fundraisers and allocate a significant portion of those proceeds to impactful conservation, research and outreach projects at the state level and beyond.
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About the National Wild Turkey Federation
Since 1973, the National Wild Turkey Federation has invested over half a billion dollars into wildlife conservation and has positively impacted over 25 million acres of critical wildlife habitat. Since 2022, the NWTF has also invested over $2.3 million in critical wild turkey research that, when leveraged with partner contributions, has resulted in more than $22 million to guide the management of the wild turkey and to ensure sustainable populations. The organization continues to deliver its mission by working across boundaries on a landscape scale to create healthy forests and wildlife habitats, clean and abundant water, resilient communities and robust recreational opportunities. With the help of its dedicated members, partners and staff, the NWTF is committed to creating a nation united by the life-changing power of the outdoors.
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