Mr. Gopher, Sir

Can a gopher get a little respect? I am working on it. I want to co-exist with my wildlife. Is a gopher ever beneficial? Knowledge is power. So around and around the Internet I went.

October, November, December are prime planting months in Ventura County. I'm busy making my plant list. At the same time I'm aware that there is danger that my baby plants will not reach maturity if I don't address the gopher issue. I love baby plants. Gophers love baby plants. It could be that I'm about to plant a gopher deli. What to do?

Mr. Gopher and his 100s of brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends mostly keep out of sight under my yard and the yards of my neighbors. On both sides of me are men who trap gophers with great success. And yet the gophers keep multiplying, raising their families in this dangerous neighborhood of trapping men. How do I suggest to a gopher that he/she move on? Hey Gopher, take a vacation, get out of town, discover a wild canyon free of gas and traps and poison.

I've heard of a talented gopher hunting cat. How do I find one of those? And why is it easier for me to accept a cat killing my gophers, than to accept me trapping them? Simply because the image of a dead gopher hanging from a trap gives me the shivers. Worse, injured gopher hanging from a trap. Can I get over that?

The University of CA Integrated Pest Management Program has some gopher management suggestions. A gopher snake and an owl?

In a website written for children. Here, I learned this:

There are over 100 types of this rodent in the United States.
Gophers are easily identified by their long, hard front teeth, tiny ears, small eyes and short tails.

Size: 5" to 10"
Shape: Gopher shaped made me smile
Color: Brown with soft, fine fur.
Legs: 4
Wings: No really?
Antenna: No you're kidding

Common Name: Gopher
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Geomyidae

DIET
Gophers are vegetarians. They only eat roots, trees, shrubs, grass and plants.

HABITAT
Gophers are known for building complex underground tunnel systems. They use their front legs and long teeth to push dirt out of their tunnels and onto the grass above. Gophers like to be alone and only one gopher will be found in a tunnel system. (right there - I learned that maybe there aren't that many gophers in my yard, maybe less than a dozen.)

IMPACT
Gophers can be responsible for ruining lawns, killing trees and destroying gardens, but they can also be an important part of the local ecosystem. They increase soil fertility by mixing plant material and fecal wastes into the soil. Their burrowing aerates or tills the soil. (My Oregon grower friend has given up on trapping gophers, and aeration as a reason to leave them alone. His soil is heavy, mine is sandy. Maybe my gophers are merely stirring the sand around.) They can help speed up the formation of new soil by bringing minerals to the surface and they also serve as food for a variety of animals including owls, coyotes, weasels, and snakes. (I saw a snake on the road yesterday. If I see him again I may invite him over.)

PREVENTION
Use underground netting or screen fencing to protect gardens.
Build gardens in raised plant boxes to prevent gophers from being able to dig into the garden.
Gophers do not thrive on annual grains because the roots of these plants do not provide them with enough food, so try planting annual grains as a buffer strip to protect other crops that are preferred by gophers.
If you do not want to plant grains, you could try a buffer of bare ground or a barrier of six inches of coarse gravel. This buffer idea was suggested by the University of CA website too.

An annual grain. What's that? One you have to plant every year. Wanting to go native, I might add many buckwheat plants to my yard. Here I found some guidance.

The gophers in my yard will not be trapped. I'll let you know how things go. I'm still studying.

8/12

8/12 = 2/3. Two-thirds of 2010 gone. Adios. See ya later. That leaves me with 4 months to get the yard in shape for the Certified Wildlife Habitat sign installation. Can I do it? Will I? I will.

Just making a declaration today. Getting back on track.