Habitat Solutions LLC

06/15/2025

Get a hold of your State Representatives and let them know how you feel about the selling off of public lands.

This is something we cannot afford to lose. These lands make up the heart and soul of our great open spaces to North America. If you believe in having the right to access for hunting, fishing, hiking, climbing, camping, canoeing, or just exploring wild country, it’s time to take a stand and let your representatives know that you’re not cool with this kind of land mismanagement.

Link to Mike Lee’s 69 page bill:https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/DF7B7FBE-9866-4B69-8ACA-C661A4F18096Members on the Senate Energy and Natural Res...

03/02/2025

Beaver Coexistence Projects

My good friend, mentor, and fellow beaver devotee, Luc Lamarche, explains the benefits of Beaver on the landscape and how we as humans can coexist with them. Luc owns his own business, Beaver Craftworks where he works with clients who, in most cases, find themselves interacting unintentionaly with beavers. Luc helps his clients work to coexist with beavers by constructing different systems that allow continuous water flow, while also allowing beaver to reside on the landscape.

This webinar was put on by Northwest Natural Resources Group, where Luc dives into the work he has been doing and details out how we can curate space for these mammals while also being able to coexist.

https://www.beavercraft.works/about

https://youtu.be/tQ1IW1F9xzE?si=SmoJerPAgdav2jsK

For this month's fireside chat, we will be joined by Luc V Lamarche of Beaver Craftworks. Luc has been a builder/artist with a nature twist his entire life. ...

01/23/2025

Here is a great example of what to do with invasive species, and how to repurpose them into brush pile habitat.

a.k.a Rabbitat

Pictured bellow are two large cropland parcels divided by a severely unmanaged row of buckthorn and border privet. These invasive species to NE Ohio inevitably choke up and outcompete natives if not managed correctly, making it a real struggle for our native Oaks and Hickorys to get enought sunlight and nutrients.

One land management technique to improve our forested areas is to thin out our invasive species and release our native trees and shrubs from the burden of competion. By cutting out invasives we can put sunlight on the forest floor, reintroducing the native seed bank, and allow our native trees and shrubs to thrive.

Building what we call “Rabbitat” can be a beneficial byproduct. Which it may just look like brush piles, which also have many benefits, but with Rabbitat we are building habitat with Rabbits in mind. Starting with larger diameter branches on the bottom and good contact with the forest floor we stack until we’re left with smaller diameter braches on top. These piles will last years creating habitat for rabbits, field mice, ground nesting birds and much more!

*In the last photo you can see a side-by-side comparison of a managed tree-line next to one that is unmanaged

If you’re interested in managing your invasive species populations or incorporating Rabbitat on your property, give us a call at 740.621.0894 or send us an email at [email protected]

12/27/2024

Seasonal Drainages

During the rainy season this farmer had problems with water backing up their culvert and spreading across their fields. They had cattle grazing grasses on one side of the seasonal drainage and on the other side a stand of closed canopy thicket. The original drainage would have a sheet flow effect across roots and wetland plants, slowing down water and retaining soil. Since the farmer cut back these trees and shrubs and let the grasses and forbes come up for cattle grazing this seasonal drainage has now become a washed out, bedrock exposed, path of least resistant watershed straight towards the culvert below. As the culvert would back up with sticks and jam up with leaf debris, they’d need to prioritize reopening these points for adequate flow during certain times of the year.

The structures you see here, built below in the eroded channel, are referred to as Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS). These are built from natural materials found on-site to help slow the rate of stream bank erosion, capture any washed out leaf debris, and retain water in the channel rather than it flowing into the farmers pastures. Over time, with proper management, these structures will capture sediment and build soils, creating habitat for diverse plant species and bring back a natural sinuosity.

Seasonal drainages, like the one pictured here, can have severe impacts on aquatic life down stream if not managed correctly.

Give Habitat Solutions LLC a call if you’re having similar issues at (740) 621-0894 or send an email at [email protected]

12/26/2024

Happy Holidays to all!

As we crest over the Winter Solstice and find time for snowy hikes and whitetail hunts, I can’t help but reflect on how lucky we are to have shelter, food, and good clean water.

This internal feeling of giving back to those who I appreciate has me thinking… but not only those who have helped me directly, but to the forests and the critters who inhabit them. Thanks to the deer for the venison, the rabbit for the pot, the squirrels for Sunday gravy and stew.

I wanted to give back to both my friends and family, while giving a little bit of secure comfort to those without a nest. So this year I built a few bird houses out of reclaimed barn wood, for folks who I knew would appreciate them.

If you’re interested in adding a hand built birdhouse by Habitat Solutions LLC to your backyard, we’d be happy to provide and install. Give us a call at (740) 621-0894 or send us an email at [email protected]

From Left to Right
- Great Crested Flycatcher : Woodland
- Screech Owl : Woodland
- Carolina Chickadee : Woodland
- White Breasted Nuthatch : Woodland

12/22/2024

Rain Gardens are a great way to mitigate clean rain water from becoming runoff, that then heads towards a waste water management plant to be “cleaned”. Rain Gardens are self sufficient landscape features feed by natural cycles of rain water by directly piping a homeowners downspouts into a bowl like feature.

Rain Gardens help to:
1. Hold clean usable water in the landscape for plants and wildlife
2. Act as micro ephemeral wetlands to house seasonal food and shelter for wildlife
3. Redirect clean rain water to be used instead of inundating the local storm water management facility
4. Beautify the landscape while turning natural wet spots into productive vegetation

If you’re interested in getting a rain garden installed on your property give us at Habitat Solutions LLC a call at (740) 621-0894 or send us an email at [email protected] with some details about the goals you’d like to achieve on your property.

12/13/2024

Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
A non-native woody vine introduced to North America in 1806 from East Asia. This invasive species likes to tangle itself around chain linked fences, grows along the outer edges of forests, and outcompetes other plants in fertile soils that would be otherwise ideal for natives.
If you have problems with invasive species like Japanese Honeysuckle and are looking to better manage your property for future generations reach out to Habitat Solutions LLC or send us an email to [email protected]

12/13/2024

A foot path trail building project for a friend and client in the Pacific Northwest. This trail system was established to work in perpetuity with the clients desire to access his woodland hills and act as a firebreak for his prescribed fire management plan.
If you're interested in incorporating foot paths or trails onto your property give us a call at Habitat Solutions LLC (740) 621-0894 or send us an email at [email protected]

12/13/2024

Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
A typical non-native invasive to NE Ohio that loves to grow thick on fence rows, property lines, and areas long forgotten. Birds spread their seeds and the seedlings then outcompete native plants that could otherwise be worked in along the outside regions of our local forest strata's.
If you're interested in re-establishing your native give Habitat Solutions LLC a call at (740) 621-0894 or email us at [email protected]

A deciduous shrub or tree from the Buckthorn Family (Rhamnaceae) Zone: 3-7 Growth Rate: Medium to fast Mature Spread: 20' Mature Height: 25' Shape: Round Sunlight: Sun or partial shade Soil Type: Well-drained