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RGS

Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

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A Working Forest is Not Lacking in Wildness – RGS

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The working forest we hunt is full of wildness and we are drawn to these special places.

We make a big deal about preserving and protecting wilderness areas. Groups, such as the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, work diligently and spend millions to protect these pristine lands. On the other hand, we have far fewer people and organizations interested in protecting working landscapes and the wildness in these “ordinary” places. 

These working landscapes — the farms and orchards that grow our food as well as the forests that supply our wood and paper — are just as important and just as worthy of our devotion and protection. The majority of our grouse and woodcock come from these working forests as well.

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Working Forests are Local and Sustainable.

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A Wisconsin ruffed grouse and woodcock hunter appreciates the local and sustainable nature of working forests.

 A few years ago, I was helping my neighbor, a contractor, frame up a house. Carrying 2 x 6s from the pile to the foundation, I noticed they were stamped MADE IN GERMANY. Here we were in the midst of Wisconsin’s Northwoods, in the midst of fine stands of red and white pine, and we were buying lumber grown and milled halfway around the world. This made no economic or ecological sense to me — it still doesn’t — that we would use lumber from so far away when we had usable and good trees within sight. The German wood shed new meaning on the term far-fetched.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: What are “Healthy Forests”?

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            “I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist, and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping, or while deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land.”

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THEY SAID IT! . . . Best Quotes from the Spring RGS Magazine

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THEY SAID IT! . . . Best Quotes from the Spring RGS Magazine

By Matt Soberg

Are you an upland hunter?  Bird dog owner? Shotgun lover?

Have you become afflicted by the grouse and woodcock hunting addiction? Do you care about the future of our sporting traditions?

If you answer “yes” to any of the above, the Ruffed Grouse Society magazine is a must see – a one stop shop for everything grouse and woodcock hunting and forest habitat conservation – hunting tips, bird dog info, gun reviews, book reviews, cooking recipes, classic hunting stories, habitat management information . . . the list goes on and on.

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2016 GROUSE CAMP TOUR – Virginia/Tennessee

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Virginia/Tennessee

Grouse/woodcock hunters are speaking for the wildlife that cannot speak for themselves – influencing forest management on public lands.

Only partially down the Tennessee mountain trail, Parker Street, of the Appalachian Highlands RGS Chapter, pointed to some Rhododendron sandwiched between clear old growth and a more recently managed mountainside. “Right here . . . there ought to be a bird in here, boys,” he urged.

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Driftless Young Forest Symposium

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Today, the Ruffed Grouse Society brought together agency professionals from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois to focus on landscape-scale goals to enhance future young forest habitat in the Driftless Region.

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Today (August 16, 2016) the Ruffed Grouse Society launched the Driftless Young Forest Symposium in La Crosse, Wisconsin to bring together agency professionals from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois to focus on landscape-scale goals to enhance young forest habitat in the Driftless Region. Symposium goals include providing a clear understanding of the area forest use trends and wildlife impacts, to recognize challenges of forest management in this region and to identify and embrace opportunities for potential landscape-scale benefits to young forest habitat in the future.

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Staff Meeting & Info Updates

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RGS and AWS staff and their dogs convened at headquarters in Pittsburgh last week to plan for the future of habitat programs, membership, events and communications.

STAFF MEETING

RGS and AWS staff and some of their grouse dogs convened at headquarters near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last week to plan for the future of habitat programs, membership initiatives, events and communications. Numerous presentations and break-out sessions allow staff to collaborate planning at the national level and also specific to their regions. Biologists, regional directors and headquarters staff are able to meet and plan in-person and brainstorm ways to create and implement more effective and efficient programs that enhance healthy forests that support abundant wildlife and preserve our sporting traditions for future generations.

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