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Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

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president's message

Conservation Coming Soon …

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

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President’s Message – Spring 2023

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by Benjamin C. Jones | RGS & AWS President & CEO Our RGS & AWS mission work is beautifully connected with the greater fabric of friends, family and communities. It’s true that in simplest terms we’re drawn together by reverence for ruffed grouse – not just your average bird, mind you, but the Ambassador, the Bellwether, the King! Yet this enterprise connects us in so many more ways. This was brought home for me quite literally over the past several months. Our family is stewarding a homestead that dates back to the late 1800s. We are only the second family with this responsibility...

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President’s Message: Summer 2022

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by Benjamin C. Jones | RGS & AWS President & CEO The term “disturbance dependent” is well understood in our circles. We recognize that habitat diversity is essential, and in a healthy forest, disturbance delivers that diversity. Of course, that is why we advocate for active forest management. However, have you ever thought about the natural processes we are trying to emulate with forest management? Ruffed grouse have been around for some 25,000 years; what forces maintained habitat diversity during the first 99.5% of their existence in our woodlands before saws and skidders? As this issue arrives in mailboxes, habitat managers...

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President’s Message: Put Me In, Coach

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by Benjamin C. Jones | RGS & AWS President & CEO As I write this, it’s mid-April, the sun is out, but it’s damp and chilly. That has me reminiscing about heading to the Pittsburgh Pirates opener at Three Rivers Stadium every year with my dad: The emerald green field as we emerged from the concourse, the smack of the ball hitting gloves during warmups and the cutting chill posed by the spring air and all that concrete in the old stadium. I still love baseball, although my own playing time was cut short with the realization that it impeded on...

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President’s Message – Spring 2021

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by Benjamin C. Jones Some believe that ruffed grouse transcend the natural world – that they’re a bellwether of forest health and beyond. Three such conservationists, Seybert Beverage, Bruce Richardson and Dixie Shumate, founded the Ruffed Grouse Society sixty years ago. That’s a big deal, and the milestone has been at the forefront of my mind as we cross into 2021. How do we appropriately honor 60 years? Stay True to Our Core Tenets Without question, learning about ruffed grouse conservation was always at the forefront. “When we got involved in the Society, we weren’t [only] interested in promoting grouse shooting. Even back then,...

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President’s Message: Spring Magazine

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I had to smile when my son came flying through the house with the mail last week. He was holding a magazine – the start of his Ranger Rick subscription from Grandma. His own name was right there on the address bar. Magical! Of course, he wanted to read the whole thing that night. I counseled him in the art of savoring a magazine, relishing articles, hence minimizing downtime until the next issue. Sage advice, but admittedly hypocritical since I rip through my favorite periodicals within days of receipt. Then, when the next installment finally appears on the kitchen counter,...

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