Need Winter Wheat For Your Food Plots?

Whether you are a photographer, hunter or like viewing wildlife, anyone who has spent time overlooking a food plot will have a deep appreciation for wildlife plantings.

Food plots are very attractive to wildlife because they can supplement their daily nutritional needs at a low cost. These plots can be designed to serve as a source of food and cover. Well-managed food plots have the potential to increase wildlife, quality of health and observability.

To aid landowners who would like to plant wildlife food plots, Wildlife Mississippi is continuing its Wildlife Habitat Seed Program. Through this program, Wildlife Mississippi will make seed available at a minimal cost.

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The Sky Lake Boardwalk

In Novemer 2011, Governor Haley Barbour, First Lady Marsha Barbour and others announced the opening of the Sky Lake Boardwalk. Wildlife Mississippi’s involvement in the preservation of Sky Lake began when the organization was founded. Wildlife Mississippi worked with the owners of the property, Mark and Peggy Simmons, the Office of the Governor, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to acquire the property so that it would be preserved, not only for its fish and wildlife values, but for scenic, ecological, and scientific values as well. The ancient baldcypress trees of Sky Lake are one of the largest remaining tracts of old growth cypress on earth. The other sites are located in Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.

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Conservation Corner
(For the week of March 19, 2012)
Mayapple
by James L. Cummins

The mayapple is a herbaceous plant. It is found primarily in woodlands and partially shaded hillside seeps. This plant goes by several names including: duck’s foot, Devil’s apple, wild lemon, hog apple, love apple, Indian apple and umbrella plant.

Mayapple grows to between 1 and 2 feet in height. Some plants produce a single leaf from a long stalk. These plants do not produce a flower. Mayapple plants with two leaves produce a single nodding flower that blossoms below the leaves. The plant typically bears lobed leaves that span up to 1 foot across and 1 foot in length. There are between 5 and 9 lobes per leaf that are deeply divided. The flower that is produced is about 1.5 inches across and has between 6 and 9 white petals. The blooming period occurs from mid- to late spring and lasts about 3 weeks. Each flower is replaced by an egg-shaped berry that resembles a lime, is fleshy and contains several seeds. Two inches long and yellow when ripe, this berry is produced only when cross-pollination of the flower occurs. Mayapple often produces dense vegetative colonies that exclude other spring flowering plants.

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