THE BEGINNING

The Ruffed Grouse Society’s roots are in the mountains. The organization, founded in the small Virginia town of Monterey, in the mountainous country near the West Virginia border, was granted a Virginia charter dated October 24, 1961 as The Ruffed Grouse Society of America.

And so the Society’s evolution began, an evolution that continues today as the Society adapts to meet its various challenges. New leadership is taking the Society ahead with new plans, new initiatives.

What the Society might accomplish in the future, however, will owe much to past investments and achievements, especially those of the last 30 years, a quarter of a century plus of building on the principles of sound science and commonsense forest management.

The Society has experienced two truly seminal years, the first 1961, the year of its inception, and the second 1977. In that first year, Bruce R. Richardson, Jr.; Seybert Beverage, an attorney; and Dixie L. Shumate set out to create an organization to help find out what was ailing ruffed grouse populations, which they saw in general decline.

Richardson was the first president and last of the trio to die, passing away in April of 1994.

“Judge “ Beverage, who was confined to a wheelchair, was secretary and editor of the Society’s small newsletter. Shumate was treasurer.

 

 
Ed Yates, left, banquet chairman of the Middle Tennessee RGS Chapter,
presents a photo of the house that held the first office of the Ruffed Grouse Society
to Dave Sandstrom, treasurer of the RGS National Board of Directors.
Dr. John Beverage of Nashville, Tennessee gave the photo to Yates.
Dr. Beverage is the brother of the late Seybert Beverage, one of the founders of the Ruffed Grouse Society.
The Beverage home, on Spruce Street in Monterey, Virginia, was where
wheelchair-bound Seybert Beverage conducted his law practice.
As an attorney, he played a key role in the inception of the organization
and later was editor of the Society’s first newsletter, which he put together in his home office.

 

Sixteen years later, in 1977, the organization found itself at a crossroads. The Society’s leaders, dissatisfied with the pace of progress up until then decided to dramatically revamp the organization. What followed was a revitalization, and over the next 30 plus years RGS laid out a comprehensive campaign to bring the cause of forest wildlife to the forefront of the conservation movement.

It was in 1977 that The Ruffed Grouse Society of North America, as it was called since mid-1971, got its second wind. Following the reorganization, from 1978 through 1981 the annual growth rate of the Society approached 64 percent. Within that time period, income totaled approximately $720,000, nearly twice the income raised in RGS’ first 17 years.

THE LATE 1970's

1977

At Pine Mountain, Georgia, in the spring of ’77 the Directors overhaul the Society. There they first state the comprehensive goal that still defines RGS: Dedicated to improving the environment for ruffed grouse, American woodcock and other forest wildlife. They hire a new executive director, Samuel R. Pursglove, Jr. And they shorten the Society’s name to The Ruffed Grouse Society by knocking off “of North America” (because nobody uses it anyway). They also begin to develop plans to generate the income that will be needed to allow the Society to grow and to accomplish the goals set for it.

RGS’ offices are moved from Kingwood, West Virginia, to Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, where they remain today.

Robert J. Lytle, president of the National Board of Directors in 1977 has this to say: “First, we must regain the desirable grouse habitat that has been lost to over-mature forests.”

In October, the Board of Directors unanimously approves the affiliation proposal submitted by the Pennsylvania Grouse Association (PGA). A working agreement is established between the two fully autonomous non-profits. The PGA will function primarily as the operating arm of the Society in Pennsylvania, where it has already conducted its own successful programs over the past several years.

In one of the Ruffed Grouse Society’s early major cooperative agreements, RGS and Minnesota Power and Light Company join in an effort to improve habitat in the Island Lake Areas, about 30 miles north of Duluth, Minnesota. Gordon Gullion, leader of the Forest Wildlife Project, University of Minnesota, and chairman of the Society’s Projects Committee, outlines the habitat management proposal for the 640 acres of mature and over-mature aspen being made available by the power company.

1978

The most successful fund-raising venture in the entire history of the Society (to date) is held in Pittsburgh April 6, 1978. The Ruffed Grouse Society and its new affiliate, the Pennsylvania Grouse Association, jointly sponsor the first annual Greater Pittsburgh Area Sportsmen’s Banquet. The Society’s Sportsmen’s Banquet Program is under way.

The Forest Wildlife Foundation is formed. The Foundation, as an adjunct to the Ruffed Grouse Society, will encourage people from all walks of life, not just upland sportsmen, to contribute to research designed to answer pressing wildlife management questions and on-the-ground habitat work utilizing the lessons learned through this research.

As he assumes the duties of president of the National Board of Directors from Bob Lytle at the year’s end, Leigh H. Perkins observes, “We have a unique and very saleable product in the Ruffed Grouse Society.”

1979

The Society selects its first regional director, Rodney W. Sando, a former director of the Division of Forestry, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. His region includes the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, plus parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. This first field representative in the Society’s history is considered a “free consultant,” available to forest owners who want to improve habitat for ruffed grouse, woodcock and other wildlife. He and future regional directors will be deeply involved in the development of active local chapters.

The Society receives its first chance at significant national exposure when ABC’s The American Sportsman television show, hosted by Curt Gowdy, chooses RGS as a program subject. Involved in the filming are Sando; Gullion; Steve Garvey, first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers; his wife Cyndy, a Los Angeles television personality; and Lral I. Delaney, world famous trap shooter.

A new RGS conservation stamp program begins. Annual revenues derived from the sale of stamps and limited edition stamp prints will fund forest wildlife habitat improvement through the Forest Wildlife Foundation. The first stamp/print painting is of a ruffed grouse pair by Jim Foote, a professional wildlife biologist turned wildlife artist from Michigan.

Roger M. Latham, Pennsylvania outdoor writer, Ruffed Grouse Society National Director and world-respected conservationist and lecturer is killed in a mountain-climbing accident in the Swiss Alps while photographing wildlife. His was one of the strong guiding hands of the Pennsylvania Grouse Association, and his reputation added immeasurably to the credibility of the state group and, subsequently, to the Ruffed Grouse Society’s in the early days of the RGS-PGA affiliation.

THE 1980's

1980

The Society’s work on behalf of forest wildlife receives national recognition in the form of the prestigious American Motors National Group Conservation Award.

The Society’s activities act as one of the major catalysts for a renewing interest by other entities in ruffed grouse management. The Pennsylvania Game Commission establishes a series of studies, notable among them a project that involves a large habitat-research area in the state’s central region.

In December, Roy D. Chapin succeeds Leigh H. Perkins as Board president. With upcoming 1981 as the Society’s 20th year, Chapin reflects, “We can be proud of our achievements. Financially we have found new sources of support enabling us to dedicate to our cause many times the dollars we had only a few years ago.”

The Society is still at a point where any significant transfusion of funds is noteworthy, as is the largest, single private contribution in its history (through 1980) in the form of a matched pair of Holland & Holland shotguns from Keith Davis of Flint, Michigan. The guns are appraised at $27,500. Following Richardson, Davis served, from 1966 to 1969, as the second president of the organization’s Board of Directors.

The Society begins its series of habitat management workshops. The first is held in August at Deep Portage Conservation Reserve near Hackensack, Minnesota. The second is held a week later at Dow Corning Corporation in Midland, Michigan. These workshops are designed to aid private landowners and professional resource managers in the development of quality ruffed grouse habitat.

1981

The Society is honored again for its contributions to the wildlife of America. The award from The International Wildlife Foundation is presented to the Society at the annual Wildlife Film Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

RGS assists in the formation of the Ruffed Grouse Society of Canada – La Societe Canadienne de la Gelinotte Huppe.

Following the death of Keith Davis in 1981, his hometown of Flint, Michigan, forms the RGS Keith Davis Chapter, the first chapter to be named for a founding member of the Ruffed Grouse Society. His widow later donates his remaining firearms collection to the Society.

Twelve wildlife habitat improvement research projects are now receiving support from the Society. They are located in 10 different states ranging from Maine to Minnesota and from Georgia to Missouri. The Minnesota research began to receive RGS financial support in 1972. The other projects were added to the list as the 1980’s got under way.

1982

The first of a continuing series of special reports to sponsor members, The Ruffed Grouse Society 1981 Annual Report to Sponsors, is published.

The Missouri Cooperative Timber Project begins. The project is scheduled to receive more than $210,000 from the Society over the next 12 years. The Society, Missouri Department of Conservation; Federal Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit; the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Missouri School of Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife are involved.

The Ruffed Grouse Society’s newly formed Education Committee receives a long list of proposals as it seeks partners for cooperative education projects in key states throughout ruffed grouse range.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation awards the Society a $240,000 grant to test the programs.

In June the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, at the St. Louis RGS Sportsmen’s Banquet, awards the Ruffed Grouse Society $10,000. The donation is given in recognition of the significant performance of the Society in the field of conservation in recent years. The money is to go to help fund the research the Society is supporting in Missouri.

1983

Mark Dilts retires as editor of The Drummer, the precursor to the current magazine. With his retirement, responsibility for the newspaper is transferred to Paul Carson in RGS headquarters in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, from Northport, Michigan.

The ruffed grouse takes the spotlight in a special symposium in St. Louis, Missouri, Dec. 6, 1983. Entitled Ruffed Grouse Management – State of the Art in the Early 1980s, the symposium is co-sponsored by the Ruffed Grouse Society and the Northcentral Section of The Wildlife Society and is held in conjunction with the 45th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference. The symposium is a forum for the introduction of several major papers on ruffed grouse habitat management.

Woodcock habitat research in Michigan's Upper Peninsula begins to receive significant support from the Ruffed Grouse Society. In this first year of formal cooperation in the project, the Society allocates $10,000 for the study under the direction of Dr. William L. Robinson, professor of biology, Northern Michigan University at Marquette.

After assessing the practicality and effectiveness of various educational projects, the Society finds the Coverts Project, created in Vermont and Connecticut, an outstanding value for the investment.

1984

In the summer of 1984, the Winchester “Grouse Gun” begins arriving, a special limited edition Model 101.

The Society publishes Gordon Gullion’s Managing Northern Forests for Wildlife, which is an update of a previous Gullion publication, Improving Your Forested Land for Ruffed Grouse. The Society also publishes Of Grouse and Things; The Best of the Drummer 1975-1984, edited by Mark Dilts.

Bill Goudy, the Society’s longest serving regional director to date begins his duties in the Mid-Atlantic Region in September. (Goudy retired in October 2002.)

1985

RGS receives The Wildlife Society’s Group Achievement Award, which recognizes an organization or group that registers outstanding achievements to benefit wildlife that are consistent with, or assist in advancing, the objectives of The Wildlife Society.

During 1985, five regional directors, the largest number ever for the Society, are at work in the major areas of ruffed grouse range. In addition to developing active local chapters, the regional directors help encourage landowners to incorporate wildlife habitat management into their overall forest plans.

1986

To commemorate its 25th year, the Society with assistance from Beretta presents an RGS 25th Anniversary Shotgun, a limited edition of 100 of Beretta’s 686 O/U with special serial numbers, special engraving and official flying grouse emblem of the Society done in gold.

For the first time annual income tops $1 million.

A significant policy change allows the Society to explore ways to become directly involved in creating and improving habitat for ruffed grouse and American woodcock on public lands.

RGS receives the Pennsylvania Forestry Association Award for outstanding efforts in natural resource conservation.

1987

The Society signs a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Forest Service. This memorandum formalizes the relationship between the Society and the Federal agency responsible for the management of 191 million acres of public forestlands and enables the Society to provide both technical and financial assistance for habitat development efforts on these lands.

Rough Grouse, a painting by William J. Koelpin, is the cover of the March-April 1987 Drummer newspaper. Jim Gantner, second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, is the model for the hapless bird hunter in the painting. Proceeds from the sale of the print, which is the first of the Ruffed Grouse Society Habitat Sponsor Print series, are earmarked for developing ruffed grouse and American woodcock habitat under the new Ruffed Grouse Society Management Area Program (MAP) initiative. The Society is already a partner in the first of these projects, primarily in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Daniel R. Dessecker, formerly with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, joins the RGS staff as the Society’s first habitat biologist. One of his most important responsibilities will be to implement and administer the cooperative ruffed grouse habitat agreements gaining popularity in the Western Great Lakes Region.

1988

The Detroit Area Sportsmen’s Banquet is first in the history of RGS to raise $70,000 and the dinner of the Grand Rapids (Minnesota) Chapter is the first regular Sportsmen’s banquet to net more than $200 per person.

The Hunt Foundation of Pittsburgh provides funds that allow the Pennsylvania Grouse Association to proceed with the purchase of a brush cutter to be used on game lands by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

1989

With ceremonies May 13, government officials and representative of the Ruffed Grouse Society and other conservation interests celebrate the official dedication of the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey. Because Cape May is so important to migratory woodcock, the Society had long worked for the establishment of this Refuge.

In September of 1989, the Ruffed Grouse Society introduces in place of The Drummer newspaper a color magazine called RGS. The magazine appears as a special single issue for 1989. Publication of the magazine generates a positive response and leads to the decision that in 1990 the magazine will take the place of The Drummer. 

INTO THE 1990's

1990

Flight Plan, a Capital Campaign for the Ruffed Grouse Society is initiated. Flight Plan’s purpose is to allow the Society to significantly expand its major conservation programs, the Management Area Program and Coverts. By the end of 1990, contributions and pledges to Flight Plan total $1,600,000.

RGS receives the first of three annual $100,000 contributions from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. The money will be used to support new MAP projects on federal, state and county lands across the nation.

The Ruffed Grouse Society reaffirms its commitment to the woodcock as a sponsor of the Eighth Woodcock Symposium, held in Lafayette, Indiana.

1991

By the close of the year, there are at least 285,000 acres of publicly owned forested land enrolled in MAP.

Gordon Gullion dies in September of 1991.

1992

The Ruffed Grouse Society significantly expands its role at the national level as an advocate on behalf of forest wildlife. In June, the Society provides testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives in support of forest management as an essential tool in the conservation of forest wildlife.

By close of 1992, MAP involves 206 projects representing more than 335,000 acres. In addition, through the ongoing and expanding Coverts program, the Society is cooperating with conservation agencies in a number of states to present forest wildlife habitat improvement education to private landowners.

The area where Gordon Gullion conducted much of his research is renamed the Gordon Gullion Memorial Ruffed Grouse Management Unit by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

1993

The Trustees of the Richard King Mellon Foundation approve a five-year $750,000 grant to the Ruffed Grouse Society that ensures a further increase in cooperative partnerships between the Society and public-lands forest managers, particularly in those regions of the country where Society efforts to date have been limited.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of land Management (BLM) and the Ruffed Grouse Society sign a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum allows the Society to cooperate as an official partner with BLM to conserve and improve forest habitat on lands under BLM’s jurisdiction.

The Society reaches another million-dollar milestone by exceeding $1 million in direct- grant payments for MAP projects on public lands.

1994

The Flight Plan Campaign reaches its goal by raising a total of more than $2.5 million. The 17 members of the Ruffed Grouse Society National Board of Directors contribute a total of $851,500.

The Society’s Coverts Program, which is designed to bring wildlife habitat management training to private landowners, is expanded into 11 states.

1995

The Ruffed Grouse Society becomes increasingly active in the development of forest management policy at the federal level, testifying before several House and Senate committees on relevant issues. In addition, the Society helps found the Wildlife Partners Network, a consortium of national wildlife conservation organizations dedicated to promoting science-based natural resource management and our hunting heritage.

1996

The Ruffed Grouse Society initiates a strategic planning process that will guide the Society’s efforts on behalf of forest wildlife and sportsmen into the coming century.

1997

The strategic plan develops and is given the formal title of Partners in Conservation. A cornerstone of Partners in Conservation is the establishment of a $6 million endowment that will support the activities of a corps of Society wildlife biologists working throughout the country. The Richard King Mellon Foundation pledges up to $3 million as a match for other contributions to the endowment fund.

1998

Officially launching RGS’ Partners in Conservation era, Mark E. Banker joins the Society’s field staff as the first of the new forest wildlife biologists.

The Ruffed Grouse Society receives the forest industry’s American Forest & Paper Association Wildlife Stewardship Award. Named the year’s outstanding industry cooperator, the Society receives the award during the Association’s annual spring legislative conference in Washington, D.C. The Society is cited for its significant influence on the well-being of wildlife on managed private forests and its support of the concept of sustainable forests.

In ceremonies held at Cotton, Minnesota, in October, representatives of the Ruffed Grouse Society and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources formally dedicate a ruffed grouse management area to the memory of Gordon W. Gullion. The northern Minnesota management area is near the Whiteface River. It is one of three management areas named in Gullion’s honor. With another at Mille Lacs, the third is the Gordon W. Gullion Wildlife Management Area in Itasca County, Minnesota, and is managed by the Itasca County Land Department in cooperation with the Ruffed Grouse Society and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
 

RGS publishes its first Internet website www.ruffedgrousesociety.org.

1999

Rick R. Horton, begins work in September as the forest wildlife biologist for Minnesota. Funding to help create and maintain his position is generated through a recent partnership between the Ruffed Grouse Society and Minnesota, with a $1 million Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR) grant helping to underwrite the support.

By December, the Ruffed Grouse Society has raised the initial $3 million in the Partners in Conservation campaign, matching the $3 million Richard King Mellon Foundation grant. This total of $6 million secures the Partners in Conservation endowment.

2000 and Beyond

2000

With the Partners in Conservation endowment almost secured, the Society hires three additional regional wildlife biologists, Paul F. Karczmarczyk, C. Adam Bump, and Gary Zimmer; fully staffing the planned total of five positions and greatly expanding the Society’s ability to advocate for forest wildlife and sport hunting.

Continuing to reach out to industrial forest owners, in May the Ruffed Grouse Society signs a memorandum of understanding with American Electric Power (AEP) in Ohio. AEP owns more than 200,000 acres of forest in seven midwestern states.

2001

The Ruffed Grouse Society takes another significant step forward in defense of science-based wildlife management by filing as a “friend of the court” in support of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a lawsuit that has national implications. The suit, filed by the Sierra Club against the DNR and the Service, if successful, will severely curtail the establishment of habitats required by ruffed grouse, woodcock, golden-winged warblers and many other species of forest wildlife.

Sam Pursglove resigns as RGS executive director effective Dec. 31, 2001.

2002

Assuming the executive director’s duties on an interim basis is Robert L. Patterson, Jr.

On March 6 a federal judge in Michigan releases his decision, upholding the position of the Society and its partners in the suit brought by the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club’s claims are dismissed.

Robert L. Patterson, Jr. becomes Executive Director August 1, 2002.

2003

Continued development of RGS' role in the legal defense of forest management practices beneficial to young-forest habitat. Involvement helps to produce favorable judicial descisions related to the Bark Camp Timber Sale on the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and for the East Side Project on the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. RGS filed a "friend of the court" brief relative to aspen regeneration on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. In other efforts to promote forests for all, RGS was involved in assisting the Bush administration in ultimately passing the President's Healthy Forests Restoration Act.

Professionally designed website is published in June.

Various cumulative giving levels created and the highest level named in honor of "Mr. Grouse", Gordon Gullion. The top level is the Gullion Circle, for those who have donated $250,000 or more. First inductees are Gary T. Martin and Denis Karnosky. There are three rings for Life Sponsors to strive for as they make greater contributions on behalf of their favorite birds: over $25,000, Bronze Maple Ring; over $50,000, Silver Birch Ring; and the Golden Aspen Ring from $100,000 to $249,999.99. From least to greatest, there are 18, 11, 7, and 12 donors reported in the annual Report to Sponsors.

First full-color Annual Report to Sponsors.

2004

Society receives $800,000 gift from Richard King Mellon Foundation and $250,000 from Edwin H. Gott, Jr., former president of the national board of directors.

Mark Fouts and William Klein promoted to senior regional director.

Further positive decisions received relative to Bark Camp and East Side Projects.

Several significant RGS supporters passed away: Jim Foote, whose many art donations have provided our sportsman's banquets with beautiful artwork, James Kiggen, former national director, and William L. Searle, head of a family of some of RGS' strongest supporters.

Years of intensive grouse studies culminated in a special conference on the Appalachian Cooperative Grouse Research Project (ACGRP). RGS provided more than $130,000 to this Project that resulted in data on nearly 3,000 grouse from eight Appalachian states from 1996 through 2000. Management suggestions can be found in the report hilited under Research on the the Ruffed Grouse Facts page of this website.

2005

American Wildlife Conservation Partners, including RGS biologists, meet with Gale Norton, Secretary of the US Department of Interior in a day long meeting to address issues of critical importance to America's wildlife resources and America's hunters.

Jim Foote Sustaining Artist Award established by the national board of directors; who also named Jim posthumously as the first recipient. Nick Steen, Alaska, awarded Gordon W. Gullion Award for career achievement in the practice and promotion of forest ecology and management for the benefit of ruffed grouse, American woodcock and other forest wildlife. RGS established a parallel award, the RGS Greg Sepik Award, to honor natural resource professionals who have furthered the cause of woodcock conservation. Dan McAuley earned the honor for his groundbreaking woodcock research and the ability to transform science into on-the-ground habitat management, emulating Greg's work at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Calais, Maine.

Annual Report to Sponsors published only as PDF file, with photocopies only to 2005 sponsors who requested such.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, while causing extensive damage and loss of human life, are a reminder of the power of nature and of one of the few natural causes of early successional habitat for woodcock and other species of wildlife.

New contributions result in 24, 13,  and 5 donors, respectively, within the Bronze Maple, Silver Birch and Golden Aspen Rings and 14 at the ulitmate level of Gullion Circle.

RGS experienced the loss of two more long time RGS supporters with the passing of artist Ray 'Paco' Young and volunteer Gilbert R. Symons, one of the founders and keys to the Cincinnati, OH chapter renamed the Gilbert R. Symons Chapter, long before his death.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation approves RGS as a specialty license plate for PA registered vehicles.

2006

Dr. Michael D. Zagata is appointed Executive Director & CEO. RGS undergoes strategic planning process. New logo is unveiled, including the American woodcock for the first time. Totally redesigned website is published, boasting many new interactive features, including real-time woodcock migration mapping, hunting reports, photo gallery, trade-a-hunt, online classified ads and much more.

National board of director's elects Terry Wilson, Bruce Ogle and Larry Brutger to the board. After S. Prosser Mellon stepped down as a director he was appointed Director Emeritus for his many years of service and in recognition of his importance to helping RGS reach many of its financial goals. Mr. Mellon joined past directors T. Stanton Armour, Sally B. Searle and David V. Uihlein in this distinguished honor.

RGS raffles Parker 28 gauge shotgun won in early 2007 by Joe Switala, Pennsylvania.

Life Sponsors continue to increase their contributions so that 28, 11, 7, and 15 are now part of the Bronze Maple, Silver Birch, and Golden Aspen Rings and the Gullion Circle, respectively.

Dan Dessecker, senior RGS wildlife biologist, selected as one of 12 members of newly created Sporting Conservation Council, an advisory group to the US Departments of Agriculture and Interior. He was also selected to chair a subcommittee charged with recommending policies or programs to maintain and restore forest, rangeland and wetland habitats.

RGS one of nearly 40 sporting conservation groups to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with officials representing three federal agencies. This will develop and expand a framework of cooperation between the organizations and the US Forest Service for planning and implementing projects and activities related to hunting, fishing and shooting sports conducted on federal lands.

RGS and public and private partners develop the Pennsylvania Woodcock Habitat Initiative on State Land (PA WHISL).

RGS' Dessecker coordinated the development of the Ruffed Grouse Conservation Plan by the Resident Game Bird Working Group of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

Under Broken Wings, a program to provide youth between 14 and 18, who have a disability, the chance to experience a hunt for forest game birds was launched by volunteers at the National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt in Grand Rapids, MN. Casey Newman of Hibbing, MN and family participated as the first recipient.

RGS' board approved two recipients of the Jim Foote Sustaining Artist Award: John A. Ruthven, Cincinnati, OH for his years of fine, exclusive donations to the RGS Gilbert R. Symons Chapter centered on the Cincinnati area; and Brian Jarvi, Grand Rapids, MN for his contributions of art to the Grand Rapids, MN Chapter for its local events and for the National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt that they host.

2007

Retired RGS regional director William H. Goudy, one of the nation's woodcock experts and long-time employee and friend, passed away only days after surgery.

RGS participation as intervenor in 2006 results in partial victory for tradition uses on Green Mountain National Forest.

Second Parker raffle won by Seth Cosans, Delaware and the 2008 Chevy Tahoe raffle was won by Jim Chase, Michigan.

After RGS member and staff input over the last decade has been frustrated by lengthy buraeucratic processes and policies calling for less and less forest habitat management, nature in the form of a F3 tornado, another natural windstorm, impacts 14,400 acres in Wisconsin, including approximately 6,800 acres in the Lakewood/Laona Ranger District of the Chequamegon/Nicolet National Forest creating more potential grouse and woodcock aspen-based habitat in minutes than were being harvested annually on the forest.

Leon 'Joe' Chandler, Alaska is elected to the Society's national board of director's.

Bryan Knight, Anchorage, AK is the second participant in Under Broken Wings attending the National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt.

Richard King Mellon Foundation again supports RGS providing a $166,000 grant to buy a CAT multi-terrain loader and attachments to allow regeneration of shrub and small tree habitats.

Mark Banker is promoted to senior regional biologist and Mark Fouts is appointed Director of Regional Operations, overseeing all regional director activity as well as his own banquet responsibilities. Dan Dessecker, formerly senior RGS wildlife biologist was selected to fill the new RGS Director of Conservation Policy position.

RGS Grouse Trail Mix created and offered for sale to landowners and landmanagers to plant on woodland trails and log landings and to vegitate industrial rights of way.

Bronze Maple Ring donors reaches 32, with 12 at the Silver Birch level.

Remington unveiled its 2007 Conservation Gun of the Year; the special Premier O/U 20 gauge which it made available for sale throughout 2008. (Some guns remain via the RGS-Mart).

The national directors select a second posthumous winner of the Jim Foote Sustaining Artist Award, making it to Ray 'Paco' Young who before his untimely death, supported RGS with gifts of art and his presence at various national and local events.

RGS magazine features new regular centerfold feature, providing an opportunity to explore in detail the elements of young-forest habitat throughout grouse and woodcock range.

2008

Annual Sponsor Print changed to Print of the Year. First painting is "Autumn Encounter" by Daniel Cliburn and the signed and numbered limited edition is used as one option to entice members to sign up as sponsors at local sportsman's banquets.

William B. 'Butch' Johnson and Jim Hayett, both of Wisconsin, John C. Oliver, South Carolina, and George S. Rich, Maryland are elected to the national board of directors.

Michael D. Zagata, executive director and CEO of the Ruffed Grouse Society, inducted into the New York State Outdoorsmen Hall of Fame.

Dan Dessecker, Director of Conservation Policy, continues to lead within the Sporting Conservation Council as they crafted recommendations for the mid-September White House Conference on Wildlife Conservation. Dessecker chaired the work group developing recommendations designed to enhance habitat for game wildlife on our National Forests and other federal lands.

Restoring Upland Forests' Future (RUFF) capital campaign launched, to raise $5 million dollars to fully endow RGS' team of wildlife biologists, with several major gifts leading to $2.1 million dollars contributed or pledged by year end.

Paul Carson retires after 26 plus years at the helm of the Society's major membership publication, RGS magazine, formerly The Drummer. Gary Zimmer is promoted to senior regional biologist and with several large gifts to the RUFF campaign to specifically endow his position is now the Sally B. Searle Senior Regional Biologist.

Brittany Zebrasky and her family attended the NGWH as the third selection of the Under Broken Wings program.

2009 (partial)

RGS Print of the Year for 2009, Autumn Delight is painted by Georgette Kanach, Gray, Maine.

RGS website gets another major overhaul.

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More than 30 years after the 1977 restructuring that ushered in a new era, RGS fills a unique niche in the conservation world. No other organization dedicates itself to the improvement of forest wildlife habitat, and does so by actively seeking partnerships with those who have primary responsibility for the forests. At the core of the Society’s philosophy is that forests can be managed by science-based methods that benefit both the forests and the wildlife species that live within them.

At 45 years old in 2006, and with the last quarter-century a time of the Ruffed Grouse Society’s growing in complexity to meet the mounting challenges of forest wildlife habitat conservation, there have been remarkable changes. But what hasn’t changed is the attitude that started the whole thing.

“For all of us, it was a labor of love,” said Bruce Richardson, RGS’ first president, many years ago.

It remains so today.