The nature and wildlife aspect of Wild Magnolia Plantation cannot be understated.  There is some of everything here, for both the wildlife and people alike.  The most important things for the wildlife are food, water and cover, and all of those are readily available.  There has been great expense given to the removal of invasive foreign plants.  Privet, sweetgum, water oak, briar, kudzu, and wisteria covered most of the property.  They are nuisances that are difficult to eliminate.  Through cutting, mulching and spraying with herbicide, great strides have been made to reduce their presence.

During the creation of Wild Magnolia Plantation, lots of land has been disturbed and many animals have been displaced.  But you have to break a few eggs to bake a cake.  And in the mean time, we have tried to create homes to help the smaller animals survive.  Custom built wood duck houses, by Saddlecreek Design, are strategically placed around the lake and duck pond.  “Critter Safe Houses” were built near open fields and food plots to protect small animals from predators such as hawks and coyotes.

The most significant thing done to help improve the wildlife was the planting of over 20 acres in Native Warm Season Grasses (NWSG).  This is the early successional vegetation that existed 400 years ago all throughout the Southeast.  NWSG are not planted for food.  They are planted to provide cover, for everything from bobwhite quail to cottontail rabbits to sparrows and meadowlarks.  They are used for nesting and brood rearing by wild turkey.  As well as by deer for bedding and escape cover.  The reason it is so good is it’s structure.  They grow in bunches, which leaves open ground between the bunches.  Smaller animals need this for mobility and for finding food.  Perennial cools season grasses (typically crops), such as fescue and orchard grass, grow very close together.  They are great for crops and livestock.  If wildlife is your main focus, NWSG is the right thing to do,  And in the creation of Wild Magnolia Plantation, wildlife and nature were front and center.