INSIGHTS:

Rabbit + Habitat = Rabbitat

A wise person once told me the story of Rabbitat. I sure wish I could remember who that person was, but the lesson went something like this. "We must start thinking in a comprehensive way about our wildlife and their habitat. We must think about Rabbitat, that's a combination of the Rabbits and Habitat."

Our lakes, rivers and forests provide habitat for a broad range of fish and wildlife species. The majestic few include lake trout, whitefish, pickerel, moose, deer, loons, and bear, but there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of species in our area that have special housing and food requirements.

The health of each fish, animal or insect is directly linked to the health and condition of their habitat. In the past our attention has often focused on the health of the individual species and has not adequately dealt with the maintenance of their habitat. Our past attitudes have been "if we need more fish, we can reproduce them and stock them", or, "if the deer are hungry in the winter, we feed them". But these are expensive remedial exercises that do not fix the problem, instead, this attitude only delays the appropriate action of maintaining their habitat until it is often too late and the survival of the species becomes threatened.

Until recently, we have been missing a really important principle… every one needs a home and a source of food … and these two elements encompass the term habitat. As a result we must shift our management efforts to deal with both the management of species (rabbits) and the maintenance of homes (habitat) and think Rabbitat.

Apply this concept to yourself and your family. In order to be happy and healthy, you need to have a good home to protect you from the elements, and a good source of food to keep you healthy. The same concept applies to fish and wildlife. Unless we make sure they have a healthy habitat that provides a constant supply of food, our fish and wildlife will not be self-sustaining.

So how does this apply to you? You may be currently threatening the removal of habitat for local fish and wildlife simply by "cleaning up" your property to meet urban standards. Take an inventory of your property, the shoreline and the surrounding forests. Chances are, your property provides habitat for many of the local species. Here are some examples; beech trees provide mast for wildlife; cedars provide winter habitat for deer; the stumps, logs and woody debris and aquatic vegetation along the shoreline create nooks and crannies for fish to forage for food and provide places to hide to keep from becoming food; shoreline vegetation provides nesting habitat for loons and other wildlife; naturally vegetated riparian areas provide an essential corridor for all types of wildlife; trees that have fallen into the river or lake provides habitat for fish; the rock rubble (which people use for their dock cribs) is spawning habitat for lake trout; and the list goes on and on.

Our attitudes must change. We must stop cleaning up our properties so that they look neat and tidy, like our urban properties. We must recognize that our shoreline and country estates have rural characteristics and are the home of many fish and wildlife species. We must make sure that as we develop our country estates that we respect the right of wildlife to have a healthy home. After all, the fish and wildlife were the first to inhabit our properties.
So, when you are finished reading this article, take a look at your property and try to find the habitats that exist and think about the term RABBITAT. That's Rabbits (species) plus habitat (homes) means Rabbitat.

Randy French, MCIP RPP, Natural Heritage Committee, Muskoka Heritage Foundation