The 1970’s — Becoming a Full Force Drumming…
THE EARLY YEARS
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.
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.
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.
1970
Annual meeting at Shanty Creek Lodge in Bellaire, MI August 28-29, 1970. National and state organizational charts developed. Membership jumps from 275 to several thousand. Full-time office opened at 4515 Culver Rd, Rochester, NY.
4515 Culver Rd as it appeared on Google Maps Street View in 2010.
1971
Name changed to add North; Ruffed Grouse Society of North America on magazine’s first glossy paper cover.
Ruffed Grouse Society of North America first use.
Want Ad for Executive Secretary. Gordon Gullion named head of board Research and Development Committee. Gullion’s habitat improvement booklet “Improving Your Forested Lands For Ruffed Grouse” announced for sale in December. Member application includes Life Member @ $25/yr for 6 years (quite a bargain; a Centurion is $1000 up front in 2011). Annual meeting at Worthy Inn, Manchester, VT September 17 and 18. Authorization obtained to publish sections of Wm. Harnden Foster’s “great grouse classic” New England Grouse Shooting in magazine and to sell the book (first merchandise other than pin, patch or decal) re-printed by Charles Scribner’s. Read the first installment, Chapter 1, “THE LITTLE GUN“, as it appeared in the March 1971 issue and “HITTING A GROUSE” pages 7-17 from the December issue.
Example drawing from New England Grouse Shooting “HITTING A GROUSE” by Wm. Harnden Foster
“Improving Your Forested Lands For Ruffed Grouse” Ad – RGS’ first habitat management publication
RGSNA 1971 membership application
Want ad for RGS’ first Executive Secretary
1972
The Society provided a grant to Gordon Gullion, who would, over the years, earn the title “Mr. Grouse.” His studies in Minnesota of grouse, grouse habitat and most especially the relationship between grouse and aspen are still paying dividends. Life membership no longer available for new enrollees after year-end. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota hold first state-wide chapter meetings. Board of Governors (current day Board of Directors) listed and described. “Band Woodcock” article by Robert Lytle.
Art on Dec. 1972 The RGSNA “cover” in larger format since December 1971.
1973
THE DRUMMER – Newsletter of the Ruffed Grouse Society of North America became the official newsletter (now 3 issues/yr) with a 4 page newsletter in February, 16 saddle-stitched pages in June and eight pages in December; edited by Mark C. Rees, Executive Secretary. WANTED — Habitat Improvement Consultant ad. Grouse and Woodcock Management Symposium held in mid-September. Ohio state chapter organized.
THE DRUMMER first issue.
1974
Annual meeting at Sheraton Inn, Rochester, NY. Improving Your Forested Lands For Ruffed Grouse price reduced from $4 to $3. Changed from two magazines and two newsletters per year to one magazine (see below) and four (or five in the same issue) newsletters per year.
New cover design
David C. Batson, II hired as new Executive Director August 1, 1974 and national headquarters moved from Rochester, NY to Kingwood, WV. Albert A. Smith, Michigan elected president.
WANTED ad for Executive Director
1975
The blue patch with tail feather became known as the “Turkey” patch (see 1967) replaced in March with below patch with separate rocker panels showing membership level for Sustaining and Sponsor members.
New RGSNA member patch shown with both Sustaining and Sponsor rocker panels.
“THE DRUMMER” transitions to “tabloid” using four and then eight large sheets of newsprint and starts as Vol. 1 No. 1 in June.
Annual meeting held at Park Place Motor Inn in Traverse City, Michigan. Joe Messenger hired as habitat consultant.
Sign erection was the highlight of the field trip as Dr. Ed Michael’s (far right) graduate wildlife
management class began cutting. Dave Batson, Dr. Phil Mathias (property owner), and behind Phil,
R.G.S.N.A.’s new Habitat Consultant, Joe Messinger (hand on sign) are pictured at far left.
The fourth person from the right is Susie. She demonstrated woman can handle an axe too!
1976
April found RGSNA in second Kingwood, WV headquarters.
Second RGSNA headquarters near Kingwood, WV.
Annual meeting October 1-3, at Holiday Inn, Ithaca, NY where Robert J. Lytle is elected President. December 1976 Batson resigns as Executive Director (ED) and Mark C. Dilts, editor-publisher named interim ED. RGSNA initiates major habitat projects in WV and VT.
Dietmar Krumrey’s Ruffed Grouse – Series II, significant in two ways: first art to grace two RGS covers (again in Feb. 1978) and grouse later used as RGS arm patch.
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., PhD 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.
The Drummer May 1977 cover showing The NEW Ruffed Grouse Society.
Major headlines and Samuel R. Pursglove, Jr., new Executive Director.
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.”
Quadna Mountain Lodge, Hill City, MN hosts the 16th annual meeting October 7-9. RGS’ offices are moved from Kingwood, WV to Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, where they remain today, although moving four times between 1977 and 1990.
RGS’ first Coraopolis, PA headquarters at 1314 Fourth Ave.
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 (at that time) 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 with the first 5 fund-raising banquets held in Pittsburgh and Reading PA, Detroit and Traverse City MI, and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
First RGS fund-raising Sportsmen’s Banquet in Pittsburgh, PA.
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 (shown below), a professional wildlife biologist turned wildlife artist from Michigan.
RGS First of Edition – 1979 Stamp Print by James Foote
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.
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.
“For all of us, it was a labor of love,” said Bruce Richardson, RGS’ first president, many years ago.
It remains so today.
Continue to the 1980’s
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Created February 3, 2011
Revised February 20, 2012
