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Homecoming Week for Sporting Classics With Chris Dorsey

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Chris Dorsey returns to Wisconsin to hunt ruffed grouse and woodcock with Ruffed Grouse Society

July 15, 2021 (Castle Rock, Colorado) — Officials from Dorsey Pictures announce that this week’s episode of Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey – the most watched outdoor TV program in the world – features host Chris Dorsey returning to his home state of Wisconsin for a classic grouse and woodcock hunt.

Joining him are David Moore and Ruffed Grouse Society CEO Dr. Ben Jones. The timing is fortuitous as the birds are near the peak of their 10-year cycle, providing plenty of mixed bag opportunities in the aspens and alders of the Badger State.

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Featured Habitat in Michigan: Pigeon River Country State Forest

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Roger Moore RGS & AWS Chapter forged ahead with a key habitat project despite 2020 challenges and delays

By Glen Blackwood, Eastern Great Lakes Director of Regional Development

Originally published in Spring 2021 issue of Covers Magazine.

“Conservation is NOT canceled” has been the overriding mantra of RGS & AWS, our chapters and membership during the past year. While the pandemic’s impacts caused fundraising and other chapter events to be postponed, our work on young successional forest management and wildlife habitat creation continued in 2020. Through everything, RGS & AWS members and staff forged ahead, ensuring that conservation remained a priority. One such project occurred in the northern region of Michigan’s lower peninsula; an area best known as the Pigeon River Country.

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Grouse are dangerously close to disappearing in the Southern Appalachians, but we can do something about it.

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Looking out over the Southern Appalachian landscape from the Blue Ridge Parkway, one sees a beautiful landscape of rolling hills and vibrant green forests as far as the eye can see. The lush, closed canopy forests that dominate the region’s public lands are no doubt aesthetically beautiful, but they lack diverse forest habitat that many forest wildlife depend upon.

In December 2020, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ (AFWA) Eastern Grouse Working Group released a report highlighting that ruffed grouse populations have declined by 71% since 1989 in the Southern Appalachians.
The primary reason for this is a lack of forest habitat diversity at large scales, especially the loss of young forests from the landscape.

[Read more…] about Grouse are dangerously close to disappearing in the Southern Appalachians, but we can do something about it.

Put Me In – Summer 2021 President’s Message

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President’s message from Ben Jones, RGS & AWS President & CEO – originally printed in Summer 2021 issue of Covers Magazine

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 trout fishing and spring turkey hunting.

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Featured Member: Perry Seitzinger, Indiana Chapter of RGS & AWS

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The future of our forest wildlife depends on dedicated conservationists and chapter leaders like Perry

“If grouse hunters and foresters aren’t ever-vigilant in advocating for active science-based forest management, it can very quickly have dire consequences on woodland wildlife like the near extirpation of the ruffed grouse in Indiana.” – Perry Seitzinger

The RGS & AWS family of volunteers represent a diverse group of individuals that at the core, deeply care for young forest habitat and the wildlife that benefits from these woodlands. Today, we’re recognizing Perry Seitzinger as a featured member of that work.

[Read more…] about Featured Member: Perry Seitzinger, Indiana Chapter of RGS & AWS

Beyond The Bellwether of Our Forests – RGS

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Photo Credit | Steve Oehlenschlager

While the perils and challenges faced by ruffed grouse and American woodcock may be familiar to our conservation-minded members, the continental and even global significance of these issues may not be fully recognized.

In a study published by the journal Science, it was noted that wild bird populations have declined by nearly 30% since 1970 in the continental U.S. and Canada. Sadly, we know these declines to have effected ruffed grouse and American woodcock too. Yet the ruffed grouse and woodcock are not alone in their struggles and we are not alone in our concerns for these birds. Others have taken notice, too.

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Ben Larson hired as Forest Conservation Director for RGS & AWS Mid-Atlantic Region

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Larson brings a wealth of experience to Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society

The Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society announced today that Ben Larson has been hired as Forest Conservation Director for the Mid-Atlantic Region, which includes Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, parts of Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware.

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Jon Steigerwaldt promoted to oversee forest conservation across Lakes States and Midwest

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RGS & AWS activity in Midwestern states will increase with Steigerwaldt’s expanded capacity

The Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society announced today that Jon Steigerwaldt, Forest Conservation Director for the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, will now oversee work in both the Lower and Upper Peninsula of Michigan in addition to Ohio and Indiana.

[Read more…] about Jon Steigerwaldt promoted to oversee forest conservation across Lakes States and Midwest

Membership Special: Help us celebrate our 60th Anniversary!

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With support from Pyke Gear, we’re offering a special deal when you join or renew at the $60 Conservation Membership level or above.*

We are celebrating 60 years of conservation success (1961 – 2021) at Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society!

Join or renew your Conservation, Advocate, Uplander, and Centurion Membership level and you’ll receive a Pyke Gear gift coupon, 60th Anniversary tee & neck gator, AND the annual subscription to Covers Magazine. A 60th Anniversary decal and the RGS & AWS patch are also included.

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Timber Management in the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson National Forest

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The need for increased commercial timber harvest is at an all-time high. The Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS) were encouraged to see a recent highlight addressing this critical issue for providing diverse, healthy forest habitat for abundant wildlife.

[Read more…] about Timber Management in the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson National Forest