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Ruffed Grouse Society

Member Spotlight: Russel “Dale” Perry, Tri-state Drumming Feathers Chapter, Huntington, West Virginia

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by Grant Erhard, RGS & AWS Southeast Regional Engagement Coordinator When we hear the word conservationist, everyone thinks of something different. Maybe it’s the exact definition: “a person who advocates for the preservation and protection of the environment and its resources, particularly wildlife, forest and natural areas.” Or, maybe, you think of a specific person – someone like Gifford Pinchot, who viewed conservation as the prescription for finding balance between human activity and the workings of nature – an idea that helped create what we know today as conservation. When I think about what makes a conservationist, I reflect on the...

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Know Your Cover: Lesser-Known Woodcock Covers Along the Atlantic Coastal Flyway 

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by Ben Larson, Mid-Atlantic Forest Conservation Director  The Atlantic coastal flyway includes some of the most densely-populated and highly-disturbed landscapes in the county, but it’s also a critical migratory pathway for woodcock. Along the Atlantic coastal plain, the American Woodcock Conservation Plan emphasizes that “stopover habitats available as feeding covers are critically important to migrating woodcock.”  With the region’s historic conversion of forests to farms and cities – and the more recent reduction in forest management – woodcock are finding and using whatever covers they can, which we’re identifying with migration data and partners. We’re getting innovative, too, creating habitats in new...

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Chapter Spotlight – Central New York

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by Nate Kennedy, RGS & AWS Northeast Regional Engagement Coordinator In the Northeast, we have chapters with lengthy and impactful histories with chapters named for incredible RGS & AWS members like Brian Hays and Russ and Carole Dyer, others named for upland writers like William Harnden Foster and Burton Spiller and, even, chapters named for the historic regions they work to steward. Central New York’s been referred to as “the Chapter that others should aspire to become” and their annual banquet’s been called the premier sporting event of the area. They’ve got a past to be proud of and are still going...

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Featured Habitat Project – Wisconsin Forest Wildlife Specialist Program

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by Jon Steigerwaldt – Western Great Lakes Forest Conservation Director and Jared Elm – Wisconsin Conservation Coordinator This year marked eight years of our Forest Wildlife Specialist Private Lands Program in Wisconsin – a first of its kind partnership between RGS & AWS and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in the nation. With 58% of forestlands in Wisconsin in private ownership, private lands play an important role in landscape-scale habitat restoration, especially where they interface with public land ownership. According to Forest Inventory Analysis data collected by U.S. Forest Service over the past 120 years, the largest decline in young aspen,...

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Chapter Highlight: Habitat Improvement Project at Chapel Point State Park

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The Central Maryland Chapter is proud to share the successful completion of their recent habitat improvement project at Chapel Point State Park in support of the American Woodcock. The chapter improved access to each field, established 10-foot clear lanes around field edges, and created 50-foot deep end zones. 

These enhancements provide the open space needed for woodcock courtship displays while also promoting healthier, more dynamic habitat conditions for a variety of wildlife. 

Before Improvements

After Improvements

RGS & AWS Adds Alyssa Roberts as Forest Wildlife Specialist in Minnesota

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Alyssa Roberts joins RGS & AWS as forest wildlife specialist, bringing extensive field experience in wildlife biology, forest habitat management and natural resources research across northern Minnesota. Roberts has built her career working directly in the field, with eight years of experience as a seasonal technician for the U.S. Forest Service on both the Chippewa National Forest and Superior National Forest, followed by two years in environmental consulting. Her work has focused on supporting forest stewardship, wildlife monitoring and science-based management practices that improve habitat for a wide range of species. Throughout her career, Roberts has collaborated with multiple conservation partners including...

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