by Matthew L. Miller
Working together, forest restoration in the Appalachians carries so many benefits. Yes, a healthy and resilient forest benefits grouse and woodcock. It also benefits a wide variety of other species from cerulean warblers to ovenbirds to bats. It benefits outdoor recreation and local communities.
A common purpose in restoring healthy forest is why The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and RGS & AWS have partnered in the southern Appalachians, recently formalized with a strategic document outlining how the groups will work together.
This partnership is particularly inspiring for me. I’ve worked as a writer and communicator for TNC for 23 years, a dream job that has taken me to conservation projects around the globe. I’m also a lifelong and passionate hunter and angler. I recognize the long heritage of conservation by the outdoor sporting community.
Sometimes, people express surprise at my professional affiliation and personal interests. They view TNC as an “environmental organization” and have pre-formed opinions of what that means. However, one of the reasons I work for TNC is the organization’s recognition that we accomplish more by finding common ground in achieving our mission of “conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends.”
TNC finds that, by working together, we can tackle the most complex conservation challenges. TNC has worked with ranchers to protect pronghorn and mule deer migration corridors. There’s work with the forest products industry that protects grizzly bears. Around the globe, I’ve seen how partnerships benefit nature and people.
Forest restoration in the Appalachians is one of those challenges that can only be achieved by finding common ground and thinking creatively.
The story of the southern Appalachians – like many forests across the United States – is one of widespread logging between the early 1900s and 1940s. That was followed by the “Smokey Bear era” of fire suppression.
“Today’s forest is a legacy of that large-scale land clearing and fire suppression,” said Nick Biemiller, regional forest conservation director for RGS & AWS “We have a landscape today dominated by 80- to 120-year-old forest, with closed canopy. Historically, there would have been a lot more open forests, woodlands and savanna.”
On a recent field tour of the region, I visited petroglyphs on a rock face etched by the Mississippi Mound Builder culture thousands of years ago. We looked over our fairly dense forest from the viewpoint.
“These petroglyphs were meant to be seen,” said Britt Townsend, conservation forester for TNC, “For thousands of years, this was likely like a billboard.”
That would have required a much more open forest. And it speaks to the fact that Indigenous people managed the forest for millennia.
Most people see the closed-canopy forest of today and think it’s “natural.” And there are those who think management strategies like harvesting trees, using herbicides and prescribed burns are interfering with nature. That’s where TNC and RGS & AWS share a common vision: for a healthy and resilient forest diverse in flora and fauna.
“You can’t lock up a forest and throw away the key,” said Mark Rogers, TNC’s Central Appalachians forest manager. “That’s not going to benefit wildlife. That forest isn’t going to be resilient in the face of climate change. If you want to keep a forest healthy, you have to manage it.”
That doesn’t mean turning back the clock; in a landscape so altered, it’s impossible. “The past is a useful, but imperfect baseline to inform the future,” said Sean Barry, forest conservation coordinator for RGS & AWS. “We’re using science to manage for a resilient forest that can evolve and adapt for the future.”
Tackling this challenge is where partnership becomes so vital. There’s the old cliché that “great minds think alike” but, in this partnership, it’s more like “great minds think together.”
“Working in a silo, you don’t get the creativity and innovation you need to address conservation challenges,” said Townsend.
An important demonstration project is occurring at Catoosa Wildlife Management Area, a partnership between Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), TNC and RGS & AWS.
“TWRA has the right location and the local knowledge, TNC brought funding and modeling and RGS & AWS is the partner who can get the work done on the ground,” said Townsend.
During my field tour, I had the chance to visit Catoosa, learning about the demonstration project around managing for late-secessional forest, so important for birds like ovenbirds and cerulean warblers. Given that ruffed grouse and woodcock need young forests, why is RGS & AWS involved in late-secessional forest management?
“Forest conservation can’t be about single species conservation,” said Biemiller. “Many species, including grouse and woodcock, benefit with structural and age-class diversity in forests.”
With climate change, the importance of a healthy forest becomes even more apparent. “Ruffed grouse are a climate-sensitive bird,” said Biemiller. “Part of what we’re addressing is risk and uncertainty. How can grouse adapt to this uncertain future? It’s more likely they can adapt with healthy forest conditions.”
Similarly, groups like TNC aren’t focused specifically on game species, but Townsend says that effective conservation has multiple benefits. “Gamebirds can be an umbrella species,” she said. “By creating habitat for these species, we’re benefiting a lot of other species and we’re benefiting forest health.”
During my tour at Catoosa, we talked a lot about active management, including thinning, herbicide application and controlled burns. The team was managing in 30-acre blocks, conducting thinning that was not the usual “high grading” – removing the most valuable species – but managing for tree species of high value to wildlife.
“Our long-term goal is to create a forest with a mix of ages,” said Luke Haddon, TWRA’s East Tennessee forest supervisor. “Using a light touch with active management, we can steer the forest to what we want it to be. We want to thin to release young oaks while removing other species.”
At one point, the forest at Catoosa and throughout the region would have burned much more frequently. More than 50% of the landscape in the southern Appalachians is fire-adapted. “What you see here is a highly manipulated forest, and it’s been that way for a very long time,” said Haddon.
Still, it can be difficult for people to see the forest they love be cut or burned. It doesn’t look like conservation. TWRA receives letters about the “destruction of the Catoosa forest” when trees are thinned or fires burn. But, here, too, game species can be an entry point.
“At face value, people have a view of what the forest is, and it’s based on that closed-canopy, 80- to 120-year-old forest,” said Zac Chandler, RGS & AWS forest wildlife specialist in Tennessee. “But when I talk to landowners, they’ll say things like ‘We used to have grouse here?’ That’s an opening to talk about why they don’t see grouse any more. We know that species are declining due to a lack of habitat and diversity. We need to tell that story.”
Catoosa is designed as a demonstration project, and the plan is to show how these forest restoration techniques could be applied to other public and private lands. “There are landowners who don’t want heavy timber harvesting on their property,” said Townsend. “The management at Catoosa has a light touch. That could be more appealing to landowners. They care about aesthetics and wildlife. It’s a way to introduce them to forest management.”
TNC and RGS & AWS may have different ways internally of talking about the forest. TNC’s priority is “resilient and protected forests.” RGS & AWS works on Dynamic Forest Restoration Blocks. The organizations have different memberships, different strategic plans. Yet, ultimately, the approach to forest conservation is complementary.
“We are aligned on forest conservation,” said Biemiller. “RGS & AWS doesn’t own the land we’re trying to influence. But we have the capacity to implement management actions. Working together, we can realize mutual goals.”
I couldn’t agree more. I grew up in Pennsylvania where, as a kid, I hunted (often not successfully) plentiful ruffed grouse. When I return, I don’t see birds in those forests. As a birder, I’m also well aware of the widespread decline of many songbird species. I see the challenges the forests face and know it can only be addressed by finding common ground.
“RGS & AWS does incredible work and their work is benefiting a wide variety of species,” said Townsend. “I think the world of them.”
Biemiller voiced similar sentiments. “Ultimately, we all want a healthy forest,” he said. “We recognize wildlife needs young forest. Wildlife needs late-secessional forest. Both TNC and RGS & AWS recognize this. We can get more done and be more effective by working together than either of our organizations could do on their own.”
Matthew L. Miller is editor of The Nature Conservancy’s online publication, Cool Green Science (Blog.Nature.org), and author of the book, “Fishing Through the Apocalypse.” He lives in Boise, Idaho.
