The brushy nature of some field edges provides nesting, brooding, feeding, and escape cover for a wide variety of animals. Predators often concentrate their hunting activities near edges because of the abundance and variety of prey animals that are attracted to this special habitat. Most of these plants need full sunlight to thrive and cannot tolerate the shade and competition within a forest or the repeated disturbance associated with cultivation and grazing. Soft mast is an important source of food for many wildlife species during the summer. Soft mast plants associated with edges.
Landowners can increase the diversity of wildlife on their land by actively managing edges.
Parcels of land that already have forested and open areas interspersed are excellent candidates for edge management. Using a tractor and mower for edge management. Although active edge management can increase wildlife diversity on small landholdings that are a mosaic of open and forested areas, it should not be used on tracts of contiguous forest larger than 200 acres. Such large, unbroken forests are vital for maintaining populations of forest interior songbirds, which have declined greatly in recent decades because of forest fragmentation. Edges that protrude into extensive, unbroken forested tracts can provide a pathway for aggressive competitors and predators, like the brown-headed cowbird, raccoons and opossums, that can severely impact forest interior songbirds.