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Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

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Mid-Atlantic Projects

Planting Projects: Dennis Creek WMA, Cape May County, New Jersey

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The Jersey Shore chapter of the American Woodcock Society (AWS) and the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife team have completed our fifth partnership for a habitat/planting project on New Jersey Wildlife Management areas. This important partnership between the two organizations has delivered five successful planting projects in New Jersey during the past five years! The New Jersey Fish and Wildlife team had begun the reclamation of a series of fields at Dennis Creek WMA in Cape May County by hydro axing a total of six acres on February 2023. In May 2023 The Jersey Shore chapter assisted by providing 17 volunteers...

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A Story of Succession – Restoring 43 Acres at Bald Eagle State Park in Pennsylvania

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Bald Eagle State Park’s 1,730-acre lake is a recreational oasis, nestled in the divide between the plateau and the ridge and valley regions of Pennsylvania. It’s a short drive off route 80, yet separated by a ridge that reduces the interstate noise. Although the lake is the central feature, the surrounding bottomlands holds one of our favorite little game birds, the American woodcock. The valley that’s currently occupied by the lake was once like most of the valleys in central Pennsylvania – farmland. The construction of the lake flooded most of the farms, but those on the high grounds remained above...

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Improving Woodcock and Quail Habitat on the Delmarva Peninsula and in Southern Maryland

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Developing new collaborations in the Atlantic Flyway  by Ben Larson, Mid-Atlantic Forest Conservation Director  During my time at RGS & AWS, I’ve focused on heavily forested parts of the Mid-Atlantic, including northern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. However, for the last year and a half, I’ve started to develop partnerships and projects in the partly forested parts of the region, particularly the Delmarva Peninsula (an abbreviation of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) and southern Maryland (southeast of Washington, D.C.).  The reason is simple: for migrating woodcock, the Delmarva Peninsula and southern Maryland provide critical stopover habitats along the Atlantic Flyway. The American...

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Habitat Improvements at Jennings Randolph Lake

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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...

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Chapter Project: Tionesta Lake Alder Renewal (US Army Corp of Engineers)

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US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) consulted with Ben Larson of RGS & AWS on ways to improve wildlife habitat along Tionesta Creek. Larson suggested they regenerate patches of alder along Tionesta Creek to improve habitat for woodcock, grouse and other wildlife. He also suggested they create a hunter access/wildlife viewing trail through the area. Joe VanOrd of the USACE contacted our chapter for assistance with cutting the alder patches and creating the trail. After a meeting between USACE staff and chapter members, we decide to set up 2 workdays in March and April of 2023. We had a good turnout...

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Chapter Highlight: MD DNR Cedar Point WMA

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Members of the Central MD Chapter have been in consultation with the WMA Manager for the past several months. The Chapter asked permission to hire a Contractor with RGS Funding to facilitate the DNR’s goal for accomplishing this Project. The Project was paid for using Sate Drummer Funding and reopened paths that had become lost to vegetation throughout the WMA. This Project was deemed necessary to recreate habitat “edges” for wildlife and particularly Woodcock; which frequent the WMA and use it as a migration stopover point and a wintering ground. The WMA has many swamps and is near the Potomac River...

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