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 and different ways.
RGS & AWS staff hadn’t previously done much work along the Atlantic coastal plain, but as Mid-Atlantic Forest Conservation Director, I’ve been increasing our work on the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware, Maryland and Virginia). And we’ve hired our first dedicated RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Director, Sara Cerv, who’s working in the Piedmont and Coastal Plains of the Carolinas.
With her GIS expertise, Cerv’s using data from the eastern woodcock migration research collaborative to better understand what types of habitats woodcock are using, which will help to better inform our conservation strategies in the Atlantic coastal plain.
In addition to starting to dig into the GIS data, we’ve also been hearing about lesser-known, non-traditional covers that woodcock are using. For example, on the Delmarva Peninsula, we’ve heard that woodcock are using mature bottomland forests that have a thick understory shrub component, such as sweet pepper bush (Clethra alnifolia). Erich Burkentine, a forester with the Delaware Forest Service who spent years hunting woodcock, found these covers to be one of the most reliable places to find woodcock.
Another lesser-known habitat for woodcock are canebrakes, which are dense, often monocultural stands of native river or giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea). These canebrakes thrive in moist soils, commonly found in floodplains, wetlands and along riverbanks across the southeastern U.S. Canebrakes serve as critical habitat for a variety of wildlife species, including numerous Species of Greatest Conservation Need like the Swainson’s warbler. Historically, canebrakes covered extensive areas across the southeastern part of the country and have since been greatly reduced due to land conversion, fire suppression and altered hydrology; however, but there’s a growing interest in restoring them.
On the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains, recently thinned and burned pine stands are reportedly being used by woodcock, which is interesting because these stands offer relatively little woody cover for protection, but they can offer herbaceous cover, such as cane. Woodcock are using the habitat cover for roosting and feeding overnight, allowing for sustainable harvest of worms in the diurnal feeding areas.
Given the decline in the forest product industry and clearcuts in some areas of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, we’re using some nontraditional approaches to creating habitat in the region.
In central and southern New Jersey, the Jersey Shore RGS & AWS Chapter has been partnering with New Jersey Fish and Wildlife to plant alder stands on Wildlife Management Areas. In Maryland, our Central Maryland Chapter recommended that Chapel Point State Park include smaller trees and shrubs in a recent planting – and plant at a higher-than-usual density, which will restore some needed woodcock habitat.
Along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, extensive stands of Atlantic white cedar used to be common, but overharvesting and lack of management has led to steep declines in this ecosystem. Often growing in coastal but non-tidal wetlands, Atlantic white cedar was naturally regenerated by hurricanes and infrequent, severe fires. After these natural disturbances (or proper management that includes clearcutting), Atlantic white cedar regenerates itself in dense stands with tens of thousands of seedlings per acre. These regenerating stands – though now uncommon given the historic decline of Atlantic white cedar – will likely provide excellent woodcock habitat, which is why RGS & AWS is supporting Atlantic white cedar restoration in the Mid-Atlantic. The New Jersey Forest Service is planning the most significant Atlantic white cedar restoration project to date with an aim to restore 1,000 acres per year for the next 10 years. If successful, these 10,000 acres of young Atlantic white cedar stands will be a big boost to woodcock habitat.
Finally, another innovative strategy we’re using is a new application of an old practice called “coppicing,” which is the repeated harvesting of trees that regrow from their stumps. Though practiced for hundreds of years in Europe, coppicing isn’t common in the U.S. Yet, it has advantages, including rapid growth of biomass (carbon sequestration), soil protection, nutrient uptake and habitat. When cut, coppiced trees often sprout many stems, becoming shrubbier.
To develop a woody crop for frequently-flooded fields in eastern North Carolina, Dr. John King at North Carolina State University has researched sycamore coppicing for over 15 years, finding that it’s relatively easy and reliable to establish, needing no fertilizers or herbicides to control competing vegetation, and that it produces enough biomass that it probably can be harvested commercially for wood chips.
It’ll take years to establish and promote sycamore coppicing as a new type of woody crop, but we’re encouraged by the support and collaboration we’ve received from many partners for this new project, including the Maryland Forest Service and Eastern Shore Forest Products, which expects it can clearcut harvest sycamore stands around their plant in Salisbury, Maryland, and use the woodchips to make wood pellets.
To support RGS & AWS and our ongoing efforts to improve forest habitats for future generations, visit Ruffed.org.
Learn more about the Mid-Atlantic region.
