Wildlife agencies and organizations employ persons with a variety of scientific training and vocational skills. Private citizens also assist these agencies by participating in the political process and their involvement in wildlife conservation organizations. With less than 10 percent of North Dakota in public ownership, it is evident that the state's private landowners play a key role in wildlife conservation. Landowners managing a certain portion of their land to create new habitats can be of tremendous benefit to wildlife. We hope the information presented in the following pages will serve as a guide for landowners, both rural and urban, for planning and planting of such areas to help further North Dakota's rich wildlife legacy.
Wildlife habitat is simply the place or home where wildlife live.
It is the ability of the habitat to meet these basic needs that determines what kinds and numbers of animals a piece of land can support. The number of animals this habitat can support at a given time is called its carrying capacity . A habitat's carrying capacity may vary by season and year, being greatest in late spring through fall and lowest in winter. A deficit in one of the four basic requirements, regardless of the abundance of the others, will also reduce a habitat's carrying capacity . The key to managing wildlife then becomes a matter of matching the animal's habitat needs with the habitat.