RGS

Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

You are here: Home / Archives for Ecology

Ecology

A Nuanced Approach to Habitat Management for Ruffed Grouse and Other Wildlife

by

Laurel Bed Lake at Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Virginia

by Sean Barry | RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Coordinator, Southern Appalachians Laurel Bed Lake at Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Virginia The faint change of leaves glistened along Laurel Bed Lake’s shore as early fall made itself vaguely known. One of those mornings that begins brisk and then warms up – a start in a jacket, end in a t-shirt type of day. The plan was to mark boundaries for a crop tree release at Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in southwest Virginia. This work is part of our project with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and made...

Read More

Green Mountain National Forest – Howe and Boy Blue Timber Sale Projects

by

Featured Habitat Project – Covers Winter 2025 by Amelia “Melly” Napper | RGS & AWS Vermont Public Lands Forester In September 2023, RGS & AWS entered into its latest agreement with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to support forest management and implement on-the-ground habitat improvements on 6,000 acres across four iconic American national forests from Minnesota to Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest. The Somerset and South of Route 9 Integrated Resource Projects (IRP) on Green Mountain National Forest include management activities that aim to achieve multiple goals related to the Forest Plan. Creating forest habitat for diversity is an important objective for both...

Read More

Prescribed Burning in Forest Management in the Upper Great Lakes

by

by Jared Elm, RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Coordinator – Wisconsin Fire in the upper Great Lakes region is certainly not a new concept. In fact, most of our plant and wildlife species in the region are fire-adapted and rely on the disturbance created through fire to flourish, the beloved ruffed grouse being one of those species.  Public land managers, private landowners, tribal managers and everyone in between have been burning since the inception of the modern concept of “prescribed fire,” also known as controlled burning. Prescribed fire is a planned fire used to meet specific management objectives that can range...

Read More

Habitat Improvements at Jennings Randolph Lake

by

by Ben Larson, RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Director – Mid-Atlantic In western Maryland, the Backbone Mountain Chapter and RGS & AWS staff have been working for over a decade to improve forest habitats through collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at Jennings Randolph Lake (JRL), a flood-control reservoir that straddles the West Virginia and Maryland border, and with private landowners nearby. John Denning, habitat chair of the chapter, explained how that the partnership evolved out of the generous time that JRL staff invested in the Handicapped Hunter program. “We figured they might be active and willing partners that...

Read More

Delivering land conservation in the Great Lakes Basin of northern NY:

by

Private lands coordination and habitat implementation The strategic partnership between Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society and American Bird Conservancy and their partners will connect northern New Yorkers to the outdoors by funding critical habitat improvement practices which promote a mosaic of diverse forest conditions, ages, and culturally significant forest and native ecosystem benefits. Primary Funder – American Bird Conservancy Sub Award & Cooperative Agreement Funding Amount: $112,240 sub award to RGS & AWS, $16,962 non-federal match required. Project Title: Delivering land conservation in the Great Lakes Basin of northern NY: Private lands coordination and habitat implementation. Location – Northern Onondaga, Oswego, Jefferson, St...

Read More

RGS & AWS Partners with New York DEC on Habitat Project

by

By Erik Latremore and James Canevari, New York Department of Environmental Conservation Nearly a decade ago, in 2015, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NY DEC) recognized that younger forests were needed to support many species being observed to have population declines. The DEC kicked off the Young Forest Program to create habitat for a whole host of wildlife species and to better the health and diversity of forests on Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). Part of this initiative involved support from many cooperating partners like the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS),...

Read More

Join Or Renew Now