Wildlife Habitat Management

Aldo Leopold's five tools of wildlife habitat management - axe, cow, plow, fire, and gun

 

 

All wildlife must have food, cover and water to meet their daily requirements for survival. Therefore, wildlife habitat management is the manipulation of vegetation to provide these basic needs in a space where the targeted species can use them. Aldo Leopold, in his classic text Wildlife Management, categorized wildlife habitat management into 5 basic tools:


1. Cow,
2. Plow,
3. Axe,
4. Fire, and
5. Gun.

By applying any, or all of these tools, the land manager can properly manipulate the habitat to generate the vegetative conditions required for the targeted wildlife species.

For specific information about Leopold's 5 tools as the Apply to the Post Oak Savannah and Blackland Prairie, please click on the appropriate category below.

Livestock Management

Farmland Management

Brush Control and Forest Management

Prescribed Fire

Harvest Management