Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Fox Squirrel

Deciding on objectives for these populations is difficult. Numbers, harvests, consumed flesh, sightings, forage for large mammals and raptors, or mere presence for the species richness list -- these are potentials.

Productive fox squirrel habitat contains adequate large den trees and many acres of dependable food in all seasons. Foods come from a variety of abundant mast-bearing hardwoods (typically older than 30 years), conifers, fruiting shrubs, fungi, and in some cases agricultural crops.

In contrast to gray squirrels, fox squirrels are usually seen in open park-like woods with sparse understory vegetation. This requirement is best met in pine woodlands subject to prescribed burning or light grazing, in farm woodlots, in bottonlands flooded annually during late spring, and in cliffs and rocky land areas and forest stands of the southern Appalachians adjacent to croplands. Dense canopies producing abundant, high energy mast is most likely the squirrel's requirement (the result being sparse understory vegetation).

Management for fox squirrels is feasible in Longleaf-Slash, Loblolly-Shortleaf Oak-Pine, and Oak-Gum-Cypress type-groups. Normally, management for gray squirrels in Oak-Hickory types will satisfy fox squirrel requirements without special efforts in their behalf.

There is an endangered Delmarva Peninsula (eastern US) fox squirrel. (One radio-tagged squirrel apparently swam the entire distance across the bay.)

Submitted by Robert H. Giles, Jr.