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- So this is a harvest area
that we did two years ago.

It's what we call a clear cut
with structural retention.

That is we retained a lot of big trees,

a lot of dead snags for
habitat, for aesthetics,

and we also did spray this harvest unit

but we left skips within
it for pollinator habitat.

So typically after a timber harvest

where we're gonna replant trees

is we often prepare the site.

That is to reduce the competing vegetation

so that the little seedlings

are able to get up and establish.

We often use herbicides
for that, but in doing so

that can eliminate important
pollinating plants.

So there's different strategies you can do

to both reduce the
competition around seedlings

so they will grow but also to leave

important pollinator habitat
within that harvest area

by excluding herbicides.

So a couple of strategies for
retaining pollinator habitat

in harvest areas can be one, leaving skips

and skips under existing trees

that you may be leaving for habitat.

Because those trees are there

you really don't need the reforest

so therefore you don't need
to treat it with a herbicide.

You can also leave skips in areas

where there are no residual
trees that you're leaving.

You could just leave it as
really as like a garden plot

that's unsprayed allowing
the native pollinating plants

to do their thing.

So that can be done under
the ODF Food Plot Policy.

And so what you need to do

is contact your stewardship forester

to find out more information
about leaving food plots

for pollinating insects.

So a few things to think
about in leaving skips

or places that are unsprayed.

One is they need to be marked
off with flagging stakes

so that when a spray crew comes through,

they don't accidentally spray an area

that you want to protect.

So in thinking about other places

where you could leave skips,

you could have a draw or ravine

where you could leave unsprayed

or if you have an area
that's a seep, a wet seep,

you could leave like a
wide buffer around that

that's unsprayed that both
provides water as well as

intact pollinator habitat.

So in your management plan,

you may wanna mark off
these areas using GPS

and put it on a map so
it's a permanent record

of the pollinating
habitat that you've left.

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