Increasing management and habitat improvement on the Daniel Boone National Forest is a key goal of RGS & AWS’ Southern Appalachian Region. To that end, RGS just submitted comments on a proposed project on the DBNF, called the Ruffed Grouse Habitat Enhancement Project.
Please take a few minutes and submit comments, too. We’ve added a template below with key habitat data you can use or copy into your own message.
It always helps to personalize your comments and make it clear why management and habitat matters to you personally.
Please submit your comments on the Ruffed Grouse Habitat Enhancement project on the Daniel Boone National Forest by August 28.
Urgent action is needed at the landscape scale, above and beyond localized habitat improvement efforts, to halt the decline in ruffed grouse and other forest wildlife in eastern Kentucky before it is too late.
Thank you,
Nick Biemiller, RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Director – Southern Appalachian Region
To Nicole Taylor,
On behalf of the Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS) and our members, I thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Ruffed Grouse Habitat Enhancement project (“the Project”)on the Cumberland Ranger District of the Daniel Boone National Forest (“the Forest”).
Established in 1961, the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) is North America’s foremost conservation organization dedicated to creating healthy forests, abundant wildlife, and promoting a conservation ethic. Together with the American Woodcock Society (AWS), established in 2014, RGS & AWS work with landowners and government agencies to develop critical wildlife habitat utilizing scientific management practices.
According to the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Eastern Grouse Working Group report in December 2020, ruffed grouse populations have declined 71% since 1989 in the Southern Appalachians. The report identified that, “Loss of young forests across the landscape is the primary driver of this decline.” The species is identified as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Kentucky’s State Wildlife Action Plan.
Ruffed grouse are a reliable indicator for healthy, diverse forest ecosystems. The lack of forest age-class and structural diversity is a driver of decline for multiple at-risk wildlife species in the region, including species traditionally thought of as “disturbance-dependent” and “mature forest obligates” that both benefit from a biologically significant mix of young, open, and late-successional forest conditions across the landscape.
Urgent action is needed at the landscape scale, above and beyond localized habitat improvement efforts, to halt the decline in ruffed grouse and other forest wildlife in eastern Kentucky before it is too late.
The best available science suggests that 8-14% young forest habitat (0-20 years old) is optimal for bird diversity in Southern Appalachian forests. For ruffed grouse in particular, the Kentucky Ruffed Grouse and Young Forest Strategic Plan recommends the creation of 15-25% in young forest cover in focal areas. On a landscape scale, achieving a biologically significant interspersion of young forest habitat in balance with middle-aged, open woodland, mature, and late-successional forest conditions, is critical to the survival of all forest wildlife.
Nowhere is this conservation need greater than the Daniel Boone National Forest. According to the Forest’s 2021 Biennial Monitoring and Evaluation Report, there’s currently only 0.34% young forest conditions across the Forest. However, the Forest Plan itself has objectives of 5-6% young forest in 1.K Habitat Diversity Emphasis Prescription Areas and 8% young forest in Ruffed Grouse Emphasis Prescription Areas. Maintaining a biologically significant amount of young forest on the Daniel Boone National Forest will not only decide the survival of ruffed grouse and many at-risk forest wildlife in the region, but also the sustained opportunity for the public to interact with these species.
According to the Project’s proposal letter, a very small percentage of stands across the 5,000-acre project area currently exist in young forest or early successional habitat conditions (5-15-years). To ensure that a biologically significant amount of young forest habitat is created through this project, we encourage the Forest Service to maximize the amount of young forest habitat creation allowed by the Forest Plan. This means creating 8% young forest habitat across the entire 3.H Ruffed Grouse Emphasis Prescription Area through even-aged regeneration treatments implemented by commercial timber harvests.
RGS & AWS is fully supportive of the project and commend the Forest Service for their efforts to restore young forest habitat to biologically significant scales. We are excited about seeing the project move forward and thank you again for the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely,
