The American Badger, no burden to Ontario farmers

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Though it's a species at risk, this unassuming creature poses little threat to farm operations and may just help breed more trust between farmers and regulators

by MARY BAXTER

Five years ago, Doug Howey's neighbour came across a most unusual roadkill. The size of a raccoon with sandy-coloured fur, the creature had distinctive beige black and white markings on its face, and impossible-to-miss claws tipped its front legs. It was an American Badger.

"We didn't even know they were around that much," says Howey, who farms corn and soybeans in the sand plains near Straffordville (south of Tillsonburg).

Howey's neighbour contacted the Ontario badger research project about the discovery. A researcher arrived soon after, and that's when Howey learned, to his surprise, that all of those burrows he and other farmers in the area were coming across belonged to badgers. "We just assumed that we were looking at groundhog burrows, but when you get looking at them more closely, they're a little more oval in shape." He has 12 burrows on his farm.

For many farmers, ambivalent feelings can follow the discovery of a species at risk on their property. Results of a series of surveys (one with 26 respondents, another with 225 and a focus group with 12 participants) released by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association in November capture the dilemma well.

Most of the respondents (96 per cent) indicated they cared about the environment or species at risk with the majority of those polled (77 per cent) confirming they cared about species at risk. But 78 per cent of the respondents agreed farmers bore more of a burden than other landowners when protecting species at risk and, further, 43 per cent indicated they were unsure how the Ontario Endangered Species Act might affect their operation.   

The Ontario badger project, however, has demonstrated that it is possible to bridge the interests of wildlife preservation and the needs of farming.

Initiated in 2009 by researcher Josh Sayers, with his wife Danielle Ethier and Chris Kyle, an associate professor in the forensic science department at Trent University, the small, independent initiative's mission is to find out more about the animal whose population in Ontario has dwindled to less than 200. The badger, a relative to those on the Canadian Prairies and in British Columbia, has been on Ontario's species at risk list since 2004 but, until the research project began, very little was known about it.

The information Sayers and his team have gathered with the aid of radio telemetry and motion sensor cameras is intended to help define the badgers' habitat. That definition is the cornerstone on which the province will develop badger habitat protection rules. Sayers says the project's report should be finished in about two years.

Working with the project's researchers has been an enriching experience, Howey says. "They are very good at communicating that they're not trying to cause any disruption," he says. "I think Josh's work has helped to allay some of the skepticism along that line."

Dana Bonney, whose beef operation near Tillsonburg is also home to several burrows, says the researchers' presence has been low-key. "They just come and check up on things. It hasn't been any sort of problem for us."

Sayers says they have worked hard to ensure their research activities won't bother farmers. "There are probably 200, if not more, farmers now on whose properties we've found burrows," he says. "I don't believe a single one of them has had any negative experience."

The badgers themselves might be working the hardest to make a good impression.

As everyone interviewed pointed out, neither badgers, which are nocturnal and nomadic, nor their activities impede farm operations. They'll burrow in the grasslands along the edge of fields, or in forested ravines and gullies. "The one place we really don't find them is inside fields," Sayers says. A groundhog is as large a prey as it gets, although usually the prey is much smaller. They don't seem to go after poultry.

Whether the strand of trust that has been developed can withstand the regulatory development process to protect the badger's habitat remains to be seen. Sayers is optimistic the regulations will be reasonable. He explains the badger is incredibly nomadic – one of the badgers they've tracked travelled 80,000 acres in a year and a half. And that means one badger will make hundreds of burrows. "So just from a practical standpoint, you have to think, well how crucial is one of those burrows, and then from a financial standpoint, could you actually afford to be paying people to protect these spots and you're looking at thousands of them over the landscape?"

Christine Schmalz, Ontario Soil and Crop's senior environmental programs co-ordinator, says that, in general, worries appear to be diminishing about discovering a species at risk on the farm. She wonders if more open discussion recently about species at risk and the provincial government's greater emphasis on stewardship rather than regulation may have helped allay some fears.

In the past, she recalls, worries about the implications of regulation have been so widespread that they discouraged potential program applicants from undertaking projects because they did not want to identify the species at risk on their farm.

"Now we're seeing applications come in from a broad number of individuals who are much more at ease with the idea of identifying species at risk on their properties." BF

Ontario's Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program
The presence of American badger burrows on their beef operation near Tillsonburg has qualified Dana and Bryan Bonney for funding to add enhancements that not only protect badger habitat but also facilitate rotational grazing.

The Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program (SARFIP) cost share program derives its $500,000 annual budget from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and Environment Canada. It supports improvements that might enhance the farm operation and either supports directly a species at risk or, more generally, wildlife habitat. The program is administered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association and has been in operation since 2008.

Dana Bonney says they've used the funding over the past two years to introduce permanent fencing along tree lines where the burrows are, as well as temporary fencing for rotational grazing. The funding has also helped pay for insulated tanks to provide water for their cattle. It covered 80 per cent of the costs of the improvements.

"I was just really surprised at how easy it was to deal with the SARFIP people," she says.

Christine Schmalz, Ontario Soil and Crop's senior environmental programs co-ordinator, says that the program is split into four levels of cost sharing. The first two are for projects that generally help to support wildlife habitat; the other two focus more directly on a specific species at risk. The first two tiers offer more modest levels of funding and a lower percentage cost share, but do not require farmers to identify the species at risk. Under the program, farmers can receive up to $20,000 a year for improvements. Farmers must have completed an environmental farm plan and have a farm business registration number.

As of late November, about 50 per cent of the budget remained for the 2014 intake period and the period had been extended to January 15, 2015. Whether the program is approved for renewal for the next crop season is unlikely to be confirmed until July, she says. They are hopeful it will be renewed and have received indications it will, "but you never know." BF

Ontario's Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program
The presence of American badger burrows on their beef operation near Tillsonburg has qualified Dana and Bryan Bonney for funding to add enhancements that not only protect badger habitat but also facilitate rotational grazing.

The Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program (SARFIP) cost share program derives its $500,000 annual budget from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and Environment Canada. It supports improvements that might enhance the farm operation and either supports directly a species at risk or, more generally, wildlife habitat. The program is administered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association and has been in operation since 2008.

Dana Bonney says they've used the funding over the past two years to introduce permanent fencing along tree lines where the burrows are, as well as temporary fencing for rotational grazing. The funding has also helped pay for insulated tanks to provide water for their cattle. It covered 80 per cent of the costs of the improvements.

"I was just really surprised at how easy it was to deal with the SARFIP people," she says.

Christine Schmalz, Ontario Soil and Crop's senior environmental programs co-ordinator, says that the program is split into four levels of cost sharing. The first two are for projects that generally help to support wildlife habitat; the other two focus more directly on a specific species at risk. The first two tiers offer more modest levels of funding and a lower percentage cost share, but do not require farmers to identify the species at risk. Under the program, farmers can receive up to $20,000 a year for improvements. Farmers must have completed an environmental farm plan and have a farm business registration number.

As of late November, about 50 per cent of the budget remained for the 2014 intake period and the period had been extended to January 15, 2015. Whether the program is approved for renewal for the next crop season is unlikely to be confirmed until July, she says. They are hopeful it will be renewed and have received indications it will, "but you never know." BF

Some facts about the American Badger

• Badgers are members of the weasel family, nocturnal and highly nomadic.
• Mature males can weigh 25 pounds and females 15 pounds.
• They eat chipmunks, groundhogs, skunks, frogs, toads, wild turkey eggs, field rodents and other burrowing animals.
• Badgers make their own burrows but only live in them briefly; other animals, such as foxes, coyotes or skunks, will use their burrows.
• They prefer mixed farmland habitat, but tend to occupy edges such as fence lines and hedgerows. They also like ravines and gullies.
• They don't like being close to people and don't eat garbage.
• It's estimated they can live 10 to 12 years. BF