Page 23 - May/June 2022 Outdoor Oklahoma

Colin Berg has spent his 28-year career with the Oklahoma Department of
Wildlife Conservation sharing his passion for hunting and fishing. In addition to
teaching various outdoor skills, Berg also shares the importance and value of quality
wildlife habitat to Oklahomans of all ages. And when he bought some property in
Osage County in 2011, he started put-
ting those teachings into practice.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s been JENA DONNELL/ODWC
really rewarding to see the results of
all the habitat management practic-
es from the last 10 years,” said Berg,
Education Section Supervisor with the
Wildlife Department.
He’s been able to put his wildlife-driv-
en plans for his property into action
with landowner partnerships offered
through the Wildlife Department, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, and Natural
Resources Conservation Service.
“I’ve been able to put in fencing to
help with grazing rotations, build fire-
breaks, and conduct small prescribed
Landowner Colin Berg plants a wildflower mix on his Osage County property in 2018, kicking
burns through the available cost-share off a habitat improvement project for monarch butterflies and other pollinators. State and
federal agencies offer wildlife habitat improvement programs to landowners wanting to
programs,” Berg said. “I even planted improve their properties.
a couple of acres to a native wildflow-
er seed mix with the help of a special
monarch habitat project that started a JENA DONNELL/ODWC
few years ago.”
Berg started the monarch habitat
project on the first day of spring in
2018. It was 44-degrees with a brisk
north wind, but his thoughts were
on flowering plants and the vibrant
orange-and-black butterflies that
depend on them.
“I’ll be planting about three acres
of wildflowers for monarchs today,”
Berg said. “Ten butterfly-friend-
ly wildflowers were chosen for the
seed mixture, and they’ll be planted
David Berman and Emily Geest, Ph.D. candidates at Oklahoma State University, establish a
in long, narrow strips next to stands transect while surveying pollinator habitat on Osage County property of Colin Berg.
of native grass.”
On the property’s north side, Berg was planting several butterfly strips
next to an area that was burned a few weeks earlier.
“It will be interesting to compare the butterfly strips planted next to a recently
burned area to strips that are planted next to an area that was burned last year,”
Berg said.

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