Road Management: Enhancing Soil Health and Wildlife Habitat with Chipper Gibbes
VIDEO SUMMARY
In this video, Principal Broker Chipper Gibbes of Swapa Land® shares practical road management strategies that benefit both wildlife and landowners. Filmed beside a 30-year-old stand of pines, Chipper explains how a simple logging adjustment and planting along roadways can lead to improved soil health, better drainage, and thriving wildlife habitats.
By thinning timber and removing a 10-yard-wide strip along the roadside, Chipper created space for a perennial clover and chicory blend—a lush, low-maintenance ground cover that attracts deer and turkeys while stabilizing soil. These managed roadsides function as narrow food plots and strut zones for turkeys, enhancing hunting opportunities and wildlife activity.
He also explains how this kind of transitional habitat, placed at the edge of pine stands, creates important openings for deer movement and improves overall habitat diversity. As a bonus, widening roads and improving vegetation helps dry them out faster, making land management easier year-round.
Whether you’re a hunter, landowner, or just interested in habitat improvement, this video offers valuable tips for turning your roadsides into high-functioning wildlife corridors and resilient land features.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
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[00:00:00:00 - 00:00:26:06] Chipper Gibbes
Hey, everybody, it's Chipper Gibbes with Swapa Land. I just wanted to take a minute to show some people what we're doing on our roadsides here on this property. I'm standing next to a 30-year-old stand of pines right here to my left. And we just recently burned these pines. But when we thinned them last time, we had the loggers come and take a strip of woods out that's roughly ten yards wide—maybe a little wider in some places.
[00:00:26:08 - 00:00:48:17] Chipper Gibbes
And so what we did here was, we planted a perennial clover-chicory blend along this roadway here. And you can see how pretty the clover is right now. It's an outstanding place for turkeys to walk around—good strut zones. Of course, the deer are eating it like crazy right now. And, you know, you don't necessarily have to plant these roadsides like this.
[00:00:48:17 - 00:01:09:20] Chipper Gibbes
You can let them grow up naturally in natural vegetation if you want to, but they make great spots for deer to hunt on. You see the deer stand in the background? About 150 yards down. We can use this as a narrow food plot where deer like to cross and come through, but it makes a really cool transition zone—an opening, a wildlife opening—that is very critical.
[00:01:09:24 - 00:01:28:17] Chipper Gibbes
Right at a transition zone along these pines right here. And if you have property of your own and want to do something like this, just potentially have your logger, you know, widen the roads out a little bit more. It also helps to keep your roads dry—they dry out faster, you can work them a lot better, and keep them in better shape.
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CHIPPER GIBBES | PRINCIPAL BROKER
MS, LA, AL
