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RGS & AWS Foresters Respond to Hurricane Helene – Grassroots action and federal and local partners bring relief to Southern Appalachia

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by Kristen A. Schmitt

On Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, hours after making landfall at peak intensity along the Big Bend region of Florida, Hurricane Helene roared across the southeastern U.S., triggering catastrophic flooding in western North Carolina, East Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. The Category 4 storm took the area by surprise, coupling the onslaught of rain with gale force winds that snapped oaks and hickories like twigs, leaving a decimated landscape in its wake.

For Sean Barry, a resident of Marshall, North Carolina, no one believed it would be as bad as it was.

“It caught us off guard,” said Barry, RGS & AWS’s forest conservation director in the Southern Appalachian region. “It looked more like a tropical storm. We’d thought we’d get some rain, some wind and that would kind of be it. But things deteriorated quickly.”

States of emergency had already been declared in Florida and Georgia ahead of the storm, but Hurricane Helene’s torpedo speed propelled it further inland, placing portions of North Carolina in its crosshairs.

“The winds picked up and you could tell it was going to be a problem,” said Barry. “Standing on my porch, I could hear the trees crashing.”

Torrential rain saturated the mountains, causing mudslides as trees tipped and wind, rain and tornados blasted across the area. While Hurricane Helene’s unchartered path only lasted three days, it ended up clear-cutting hundreds of thousands of acres of sustainably managed forests and caused $113.5 billion of damage, making it the deadliest hurricane since Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the deadliest to strike mainland U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Further, as scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and World Weather Attribution studied the intensity of the storm, they attributed the extreme rain and wind to climate change, which can increase the frequency, intensity and impact of extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires and drought.

“What’s important to understand, in this instance especially, that sustainable forest management can be a tool in our toolbox to create more diverse and resilient forests,” noted Barry. “When there are extreme weather events, when there’s big fires or pest outbreaks, having a healthy, diverse forest is critical for combating some of those challenges that come with climate change.”

Post-Helene Relief: RGS & AWS Foresters Meet the Challenge Head-On

As Hurricane Helene receded, leaving thousands without power or a way to communicate with loved ones, Cooper Leist and a group of friends began the arduous task of checking in on family and friends.

“We’re a bunch of whitewater kayakers, so most of us all have four-wheel drive vehicles and high clearance,” said Leist, a RGS & AWS forest wildlife specialist who works on private lands in North Carolina. “We were able to drive around and get over all of the hazards to check on people, but slowly we started realizing it was way worse than we initially thought. People didn’t have power. There was no Internet anywhere. Food was dwindling.”

In the middle of the night, Leist was able to finally gain internet access, likely because the already overburdened service wasn’t being used at that time. He immediately posted messages to social media asking for donations and help.

“We mentioned that we were interested in trying to get supplies to the impacted folks because we were doing pretty okay, all things considered,” said Leist. Those who wanted to help sent Leist money via Venmo, which he used to purchase two 55-gallon food-safe drums, filling them with fresh, spring water from a friend’s parents’ place before driving back into West Asheville to start distributing water. More of Leist’s friends collected and distributed food, creating a grassroots relief effort that soon snowballed into something more.

Leist posted photos on social media, “trying to be as transparent as possible to everyone who trusted us with their money.”

Soon after, Leist said that Venmo and PayPal locked them out of their accounts because the donations kept pouring in, so they reached out and partnered initially with the French Broad River Academy, a North Carolina-based independent middle school in Woodfin, to access the funds for hurricane relief before branching off to form their own nonprofit: Helene Rebuild Collaborative. Leist, together with friends Lance Buskey and Sam Iatarola, was able to continue funneling food, water and hygiene supplies throughout post-Helene Appalachia while also helping with bigger projects like restoring internet access by kayaking and laying fiber optic cable for AT&T.

“I was interacting with Special Forces and the National Guard because we had our fingers on the pulse of the area,” said Leist, who was thankful that RGS & AWS gave him time off to help with hurricane relief. “I served as director of operations, we had more than a thousand volunteers in that first two and a half weeks and, I believe, we served 14 counties.”

For Leist, who’d volunteered back in college at soup kitchens and animal shelters, this was the first time he’d ever done something of this caliber, and he was appreciative that community members and the French Broad River Academy were there for support. “It wasn’t something that we did alone, by any means. The community support was completely mind blowing. I’ve never seen a community come together like that just instantly. There was no thought or hesitation behind it.”

Meanwhile, down in Georgia, Dan Kutschied was also reaching out to friends and family. The storm, which was supposed to hit his town head-on, detoured instead towards Buncombe County and the Asheville area in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains where his brother lived.

“I ended up losing power for maybe six hours [in Georgia], but I lost communication with my brother for a couple of days,” said Kutschied, RGS & AWS’s Georgia forest wildlife specialist. “And then we heard about what was going on up there with all of the damage.”

He began procuring supplies to deliver to those in need. “Right after the hurricane happened, pretty much everything was sold out until you got to Gainesville. That was the first place they could actually get gas for their cars.”

Kutschied rolled into action, obtaining numerous five-gallon gas cans so he and his brother could haul truckloads of gas back to North Carolina, driving through “neighborhoods that were washed out … through tunnels of fallen trees … and over dead powerlines that were strewn across the ground.”

He also helped deliver water in the immediate aftermath and delivered dozens of propane heaters, coordinating with Leist to buy supplies that were badly needed.

“My brother operates a food truck,” said Kutschied. “I helped him run around and get jugs of water … it was difficult to get the amount of water that was needed to run a food service at that time, but I think he was able to serve 150 people meals each day once the truck was up and running.”

The Aftermath: Rebuilding Forests and Communities

Now, several months post-Helene, RGS & AWS is in the midst of helping clean up acres and acres of downed timber, working with partners like the U.S. Forest Service, state fish and wildlife agencies, state forestry agencies and other organizations that include the Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

“In the early days following Hurricane Helene, our teams worked tirelessly to clear critical roads and bring their incident management expertise to serve their communities,” said Jenifer Bunty, acting district ranger in the Grandfather Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest, which spans more than 500,000 acres in western North Carolina. “Now that we’re moving to a new phase, we’re working to complete damage assessments on the Forest while supporting recovery throughout western North Carolina.”

However, those assessments will take months to complete.

“It’s very clear that Helene caused extensive damage to our forests in areas both directly in the path and those on the outskirts of the storm, with numerous trees uprooted and landscapes dramatically altered in its wake,” said Joe Franklin, a U.S. Forest Service co-op forester with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “This kind of damage will, without a doubt, present a significant challenge in managing our forests and wildlife habitats.”

The first priority is removing the fallen timber from the ground because of its massive wildfire risk. In North Carolina, that means cleaning up nearly 250,000 acres of forest with a high concentration of that acreage on private land. Leist is working with landowners to make their land safe again while recouping financial losses and reestablishing forest management plans that will, hopefully, return the forests to their pre-hurricane stage in the future.

“What we’re seeing now is the proverbial reset button being hit in these regions at a rate way higher than we ever expected,” said Leist. “Trying to restore high-quality early successional habitat over the next five to 20 years is going to be really critical since we couldn’t do any of the site prep work that we would have done before a sustainable harvest.”

Downed timber at this capacity can also play havoc on a balanced ecosystem as invasive plants overwhelm the landscape, choking out native plants that wildlife depend upon.

“There will be an increased chance that we’ll face issues as forest managers, such as non-native invasive species, diseases, and high fuel loading from storm-stressed and damaged areas,” said Franklin. “But I feel strongly that through collaboration with conservation partners, we can navigate these complexities and work towards restoring the affected areas.”

Bunty called the event “identity-shifting.”

And the task ahead is immense; however, collaborative teamwork will help solve immediate issues while also bridging federal and local partners for long-term resilience across the forests and the Appalachia ecosystem as a whole.

“We have a lot of numbers that describe the extent of road damage, acreage of blowdown and changes to the fire fuel structure on Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, but the impacts from Helene go beyond the unprecedented changes to infrastructure and ecosystems,” said Bunty. “The integral role that the forest plays in our communities is at the forefront of our minds as we plan our recovery efforts. We have a strong foundation of taking an ‘all-lands’ approach, especially when dealing with wildfires and planning controlled burns. We’re looking forward to building on that foundation with our partners as we move towards recovery.”

Ruffed grouse: From Disaster to Resilience

While it’s hard to look past the devastation following a storm this extreme, Barry is optimistic, especially when it comes to ruffed grouse.

“Grouse are what we call a disturbance-dependent species,” said Barry. “And they actually do benefit from a disturbance event like a wind storm, an ice storm or even a hurricane.”

That’s because ruffed grouse thrive in dynamic forests where timber is periodically disturbed by fire or sustainable harvesting. Populations are less common in the Southern Appalachians and tend to diminish as forests mature and food and cover resources decline. In fact, repeated disturbances are essential to maintaining grouse populations, which is why Barry believes that ruffed grouse will potentially thrive in the subsequent years following the hurricane as more early successional habitat becomes available.

The true uphill challenge that lies ahead comes in managing and monitoring these impacted areas as forest restoration efforts continue. Opportunities for salvage harvests, non-native invasive species control and promoting desirable species composition will be essential for long-term success.

Kristen A. Schmitt writes regularly about the outdoors, conservation, wildlife, sustainable agriculture, adventure and more. Her work has been published in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Glamour, Marie Claire, Washington Post, Outside Magazine, among others. She is currently at work on her debut novel. 

A Collaboration for a Healthier Appalachian Forest

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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.

RGS & AWS Hires Spencer Marshall as Forest Wildlife Specialist

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RGS & AWS welcomes Spencer Marshall as a forest wildlife specialist for state lands in western Virginia. Marshall is originally from Galax, Virginia, and earned his bachelor’s degree in wildlife conservation with a minor in forestry from Virginia Tech. He continued his education at the University of Tennessee where his graduate research was focused on white-tailed deer response to prescribed fire.

Marshall’s professional interests include applied management to enhance habitat quality for various game species. In his free time, he enjoys fly fishing, hiking, camping and hunting. Marshall is excited to return to southwest Virginia to work on the state lands where he grew up hunting and fishing.

Action Alert: Stearns Ruffed Grouse Habitat Management Project

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RGS & AWS commends the Forest Service on their efforts to restore young forest habitat at biologically significant scales. We’re fully supportive of the proposed action outlined in the Stearns Ruffed Grouse Habitat Management Project on the Stearns Ranger District of the Daniel Boone National Forest.

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’s too late.

Speak out in support of managing for early successional wildlife habitat today! Public comment is being accepted until October 18, 2024.

Below are some additional comments for the Forest Service to consider as the project continues to be evaluated and planned.

1. For Dense Regeneration Creation and Maintenance and Oak Enhancement and Maintenance:

  • a. We support the decision to ensure desired species are recruited into the overstory. Lack of management and competition from other less desirable tree species can make it difficult to achieve optimal regeneration and recruitment, especially with oaks. For this reason, prescribed fire and various mechanical and chemical treatments should be considered to control competition from less desirable tree species (red maple and poplar) and promote conditions for advance oak regeneration. Appendix A has an encouraging suite of management options that should all be examined to achieve desired conditions.
  • b. Consider implementing all stages of the shelterwood sequence, including the preparatory treatment, establishment cut, and overstory removal. Where there’s a “dense midstory” of undesirable tree species, midstory removal is a viable preparatory treatment to improve conditions for advance oak reproduction. In addition, irregular shelterwood harvesting and shelterwood-burn techniques should be considered.

2. For Wildlife Opening Reestablishment and Maintenance:

  • a. If not already established, consider a mixture of clovers and native forbs to increase forage and the number of invertebrates available for consumption by grouse chicks. We support the emphasis on maintaining the edges of these areas to provide adequate cover for grouse. It is important to note that grouse tend to favor “smaller (less than 2 acres) and irregularly shaped openings” in the region.  

Action Alert: U.S. Forest Service National Old-Growth Amendment

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At RGS & AWS, we’re proud to work with the U.S. Forest Service on sound forest management that promotes abundant wildlife, healthy forests, and opportunities for people to enjoy the outdoors.

As the USFS considers a proposal that would guide stewardship of old growth and mature forests, we commend the Service for staying true to its mission – and relying on sound science as a guide. This despite a steady drumbeat of falsehoods and faux research from anti-forest management groups.

RGS & AWS staff have been focused on this issue for over two years. Now, your input is sought by the Forest Service on its plan, which could impact forest management across the National Forest System!

Together we can send a clear message:

✔ Ruffed grouse and American woodcock are bellwethers of forest condition. They absolutely need healthy, diverse forests to survive and thrive. These same forests clean the air, filter water and support local communities.

✔ Old forests are one of several critical successional stages in healthy ecosystems. Disproportionate emphasis on old growth – without respect to forest type and in a way that prioritizes them over other forest types – could hinder the Forest Service’s ability to optimize wildlife habitat, carbon stewardship, resilience and biodiversity.

✔ We appreciate the Forest Service hearing input from RGS & AWS and dozens of true conservation groups toward a science-based approach relying on local knowledge and expertise from people who work and recreate on our national forest lands.

We look forward to continued work with the Forest Service in charting pragmatic management strategies – and to helping raise the voices of all of us who care about healthy forest habitat and the wildlife that need it to thrive – grouse and woodcock included!

Deadline to comment: September 20, 2024. Don’t Delay!

Conservation Coming Soon …

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RGS & AWS is growing its conservation delivery team to improve habitat right where it’s needed most

as told to Kristyn Brady

This spring, RGS & AWS set out to grow its conservation delivery team in an important region for American woodcock – the Coastal Plain and Piedmont of North Carolina, South Carolina, southeastern Virginia and eastern Georgia – expanding the footprint of the organization and its habitat work based on cutting edge research.

President and CEO Ben Jones sat down for a Q&A to discuss this new forest conservation director role, how hiring in a new region affirms the organization’s business model and what success looks like for upland birds and other game species in the Southeast.

First, can you describe this new role and its relevance to the organization’s unique approach to conservation of the American woodcock?

The forest conservation directors are the architects of our regional habitat delivery programs and we currently have talented and knowledgeable leaders doing this work in four other regions. This takes that successful model to a new landscape.

Being able to grow our team in this way just affirms our business model that we put in place in 2020 to address the urgent need for landscape-scale conservation by building regional networks and leveraging financial returns from forest products. At the time, we were saying, “Trust us, this is going to work.” And now we have such a proof of concept that we’re expanding onto an entirely new landscape to support a bird that is really important for a lot of people who are into upland hunting.

How did you know when it was time to expand the team in the Southeast?

That’s the really fun part. For years, we’ve funded and helped to carry out research on the status of the American woodcock, particularly by helping with the Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative study run by the University of Maine. RGS & AWS have joined many partners in putting GPS transmitters on woodcock in the eastern part of the continent, and – for the first time ever – we’re getting a really comprehensive look at their migration timing and patterns.

Of particular importance to us is the data gathered on their stopover and overwintering habitats. And, after years of this study, we can see which landscapes are really important for woodcock at certain times of year. That has led directly to the placement of this position in the coastal plain and piedmont of the Carolinas because the research showed us that about 30% – or one in three woodcock in the Eastern Flyway – stops over or winters in that region.

It’s been 10 years since the Ruffed Grouse Society launched our partner organization, the American Woodcock Society, which was designed specifically to work on these landscapes where woodcock spend their winters and there aren’t any ruffed grouse. In many other places, these two birds live side by side, are kind of synonymous for upland hunters, and both benefit from any improvement to the habitat. But there were geographies that benefited only woodcock and only for a portion of the year – and they were being overlooked.

So, this is really the first conservation delivery region for us that’s totally focused on woodcock, which is really exciting. Our members supported the research, have been engaged with the results and now there’s actionable intel that this is an important landscape. It’s time to deliver habitat there.

Are you expecting the person in this role to replicate the successes of the other forest conservation directors or does the new landscape demand a new way of working?

I think the forest conservation director role is core to our business model and the shift that we made in 2020. So, yes, it’s going to replicate the same growth in conservation delivery that we’re seeing in other regions where we’ve put the right person in place.

For example, right next door in the Southern Appalachian region, we didn’t have anyone on the ground until we brought on Nick Biemiller in 2020 in this same position. Today, Nick has a full staff and about $4 million in active habitat agreements. He’s working with state agencies, on the national forests and on private lands in a place where we needed to capitalize on more habitat work. Four years later, we have a largely self-funded network. And I think that’s possible in this new region, as well.

But the habitat is different. The forest management practices will be different. Land ownership patterns and forest product markets vary so widely from the Southeast compared to, say, the upper Great Lakes that you might as well be on different planets. One of the first orders of business for this new forest conservation director will be to write a regional business plan, because you can’t just take the Great Lakes business plan and apply it to the southern Virginia, the eastern Carolinas and Georgia.

How much do you think the success of others in this role speaks to the passion of the individual employee? What else are you looking for in a candidate?

The passion of the employee is important. But our forest conservation directors need to be really strong leaders and strategists, because they have to put together a network of foundations, federal partners, state partners and private landowners.

They also need a really deep understanding of and pragmatic experience in the fields of forestry and wildlife biology. We often refer to our conservation delivery staff as wildlife foresters. I don’t want to say they’re unicorns – because there are definitely people who have an interest and specialize in both sides – but we’re asking to combine that with, say, five to 10 years of field experience, a really strategic mindset and demonstrated work with partners. We’re looking for a very special person to do well in this role.

What kind of relationship will this person have with the local chapters?

A key part of this position is communicating with our local supporters, rank-and-file members and donors. Because, if we’re not talking about the work with these folks, it’s as if we’re not even doing it. The forest conservation directors tie in with the chapters, not just to get them motivated and inspired by projects but also to coordinate with them on local fundraising and how we can leverage those dollars with bigger grants and conservation agreements. Most funding agencies or foundations require a 25% or 50% non-federal match, and motivated local chapters and fundraisers are critical. For every dollar they raise, we’re securing $4, $5 or even $10 more to achieve our mission. That can’t happen without collaboration.

Beyond fundraising, the person in this role will also make sure local members are informed and ready to be mobilized for public comment periods and other opportunities to advocate for conservation projects, funding and policies. That part is really important, too.

And that kind of work is easier to do with in-region knowledge and contacts than from a national office hundreds of miles away, right?
Exactly. From the national office, we can’t keep our fingers on the pulse of everything that’s going on regionally or within each state. It’s essential to have local eyes and ears on the ground. Plus, when it comes to national forest management, our folks in the region can show up and speak with someone at the U.S. Forest Service face to face or be waiting in the lobby when they come into the office in the morning. It’s that in-person contact and local relationship building that you just have to have.

Each forest conservation director isn’t an island, though. They are part of the national team and feed information up that we may need to act on in Washington, D.C. They also meet with each other regularly to share knowledge, current practices, new research coming out and information on funding sources.

Can you give an example of a time when the forest conservation directors from different regions have actually inspired each other to do things differently than before?

Oh, absolutely. I think most often a shift might come from someone else’s insight on forest product markets. Because the beauty of the way we manage forests is that it puts a commodity product on the market. So, there’s been a lot of idea sharing among the regions about different approaches and ways to think about how to get wood cut or how to partner with forest product companies to do more habitat work. They trade advice on matching grants with state partners or how to leverage and work more closely with the different regional joint ventures. It’s a constant exchange of information.

Is there already a wish list of projects for the new forest conservation director to get started on, particularly based on the data that you’ve already collected about where the birds are?

Yes. We’ve already started talking to forest service partners in the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests in South Carolina and the Croatan National Forest in North Carolina, and there’s a lot of interest in kickstarting projects when this person comes on. The hopper is already pretty full of proposals for this person to run with. They should be hiring staff very quickly.

What do you like best about this move into the coastal forest of the Southeast?

I love that this is all about woodcock, which is such a compelling bird – they’re so quirky and cool and a really important gateway bird for recruiting new hunters. If you have somebody just starting out with upland hunting, taking them on a woodcock hunt can be a great way to introduce them to the dogs and the cover. Plus, this is a totally wild bird experience. There’s no put-and-take woodcock hunting.

I also love that this is the 2024 version of what Ruffed Grouse Society has done for more than 60 years, which is act based on good science. And I can’t wait to see who comes to us with applications and start having these discussions to fill this role. Because with all our recent hires, from state coordinators to forest wildlife specialists, we always get to talk to some really amazing people.

View the job description for the Coastal Plains/Piedmont Forest Conservation Director.

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