Just like humans, wildlife is adapting to the new post-Helene normal.
Hurricane Helene and its aftermath, not to mention the cold winter, have been trying for all of us. Spring, however, finally may bring some much-needed relief to creatures great and small.
We also can laud the resiliency of our feathered and four-legged friends.
“Animals are extremely adaptable,” says I.B. Parnell, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division regional supervisor. “If they don’t adapt, they’ll die.”
He says downed trees from the storm affected them in two ways – loss of habitat and loss of food sources such as insects, larvae and acorns.
To adapt, a songbird now may make its home in vegetation that’s lower to the ground like a box shrub instead of an oak tree.
John McPherson, a Georgia Forestry Commission ranger, also says that while prey animals including birds, squirrels and rabbits will nest in debris piles out of convenience, they’ll find new homes as the piles are removed.
However, he adds, “With spring and warmer weather coming, people need to be careful around debris piles because they are prime habitat for snakes.”
Parnell also says animals likely are shifting in the area rather than leaving altogether. Tripp Williams, Columbia County Extension coordinator and agriculture and natural resources agent, agrees.
“From small birds to white-tailed deer, there has been a shift in their travel patterns,” he says. “Plants and trees will start to regrow, though, and wildlife will potentially come back.”
To encourage wildlife to return, McPherson recommends that people put birdfeeders as well as native flowering plants and trees in their yards. Native tree species include ash, beech, birch, black walnut, cedar, cherry, elm, flowering dogwood, hickory, magnolia, maples, oaks, pines, sassafras and sycamore.
“People shouldn’t plant Bradford pear trees,” adds McPherson. “I know people like them, but they’re an invasive species. They’re brittle, and their limbs break off in windstorms.”
While fall is the best time to plant, Williams says, people can plant any time if they have the proper irrigation.
McPherson also says the hurricane allowed sunlight to reach the forest floor.
“That sunlight allows seeds that have been germinating for years to start their regrowth process. That’s good for deer and turkeys. It will open up feeding areas for wildlife,” he says. “It’s possible that we’ll see more wildlife in the area because of the increase in their food sources. You have to look for the silver lining in everything.”
Williams sees another silver lining on the horizon as well.
“With the amount of regrowth that will be happening in the area,” he says, “the spring should be pretty green.”
