It used to be if you owned timber your biggest threat of
losing it was forest fire or a rare direct hit tornado. Well, there was and still is the possibility
attack by some pine bark beetle species.
And there are a few tree-feeding fungi with sinister-sounding names like
Fusarium and Phytophthora. A relatively
new forest threat is the problems of feral hogs.
The hog problem in agriculture continues to get worse. We typically think of hogs destroying crops
in the field with their feeding frenzies.
But they do much more out where they don’t belong. In forestry, hogs literally root up newly
planted seedlings. In some places, large
numbers of hogs affect water quality by creating wallows near streams.
They also rub against trees and can damage younger trees
that way. As for forest wildlife, hog
competition cuts into the food supply since they too eat acorns and fruits and
berries. Plus feral hogs eagerly consume
bird eggs of ground nesters like turkeys and waterfowl.
Local timber owners have an opportunity coming up to learn
more about feral hog damage, what is being done to deal with the problem and
what steps landowners can take. Feral
hogs will be the topic for the 2015 annual membership meeting of the
Warren County Forestry Association. The meeting will
be Thursday, January 29 beginning at 6 p.m. at the International Paper Company
Training Center at Redwood.
Everyone with a forestry interest is invited to attend and
join the county association. Dues of $30
will be collected at the door and this does cover dinner. A second dinner ticket for a spouse or guest
is $15. Make checks payable to Warren
County Forestry Association. There is a
serious RSVP need to get the right number of catered meals. So call the Warren County Extension office at
601-636-5442 no later then 5:00 PM Friday, January 23 to get counted in.
The exact title of the meeting’s educational presentation is
“Feral Hog Biology, Management and Control” by speaker Cliff Covington,
MSState Extension Service Wildlife Department.
Some readers might remember Cliff from his days as County Agent in
Claiborne County. He has been working
with the feral hog problem from the landowner education angle for quite some
time now.
By the way, the correct term is feral even though we often
hear “Wild hogs.” Feral animals are
domestic ones that have gone wild and their wild descendants. Hogs are not native to this part of the
world. Some domestic hogs escaped from
early European settlements.
And to tell the truth some modern sportsmen abetted the current
feral hog dilemma by intentionally releasing domestic hogs a few decades
back. Their idea was to increase
huntable wild game in the woods. Bad
idea…
There might be hunting club members who want to attend the
feral hog meeting. No problem; you don’t
have to actually own the land. Just own
thirty bucks and bring it with you. And
don’t forget to call in by the Friday before.
