fbpx

RGS

Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

You are here: Home / Archives for Success Stories

Success Stories

Collaborative Project to Improve 100 Acres of Wildlife Habitat on North Carolina’s National Forests

by

First published, June 9, 2023 – updated on May 30,2025.Agreement Narrative: Collaboration to maintain, restore and enhance forest conditions and wildlife habitat on the National Forests in North Carolina. Primary Funder: USDA Forest Service Location: Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina Overview: The Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS) and the National Forests in North Carolina (NFsNC) have mutual interest in efforts to improve habitat and forest health across the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. RGS & AWS and NFsNC will exchange personnel, funding and other resources, in matters relating to sustainable forest management, forest health and ecosystem restoration, the...

Read More

Habitat Improvements at Jennings Randolph Lake

by

by Ben Larson, RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Director – Mid-Atlantic In western Maryland, the Backbone Mountain Chapter and RGS & AWS staff have been working for over a decade to improve forest habitats through collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at Jennings Randolph Lake (JRL), a flood-control reservoir that straddles the West Virginia and Maryland border, and with private landowners nearby. John Denning, habitat chair of the chapter, explained how that the partnership evolved out of the generous time that JRL staff invested in the Handicapped Hunter program. “We figured they might be active and willing partners that…

Read More

Delivering land conservation in the Great Lakes Basin of northern NY:

by

Private lands coordination and habitat implementation The strategic partnership between Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society and American Bird Conservancy and their partners will connect northern New Yorkers to the outdoors by funding critical habitat improvement practices which promote a mosaic of diverse forest conditions, ages, and culturally significant forest and native ecosystem benefits. Primary Funder – American Bird Conservancy Sub Award & Cooperative Agreement Funding Amount: $112,240 sub award to RGS & AWS, $16,962 non-federal match required. Project Title: Delivering land conservation in the Great Lakes Basin of northern NY: Private lands coordination and habitat implementation. Location – Northern Onondaga, Oswego, Jefferson, St…

Read More

RGS & AWS Partners with New York DEC on Habitat Project

by

By Erik Latremore and James Canevari, New York Department of Environmental Conservation Nearly a decade ago, in 2015, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NY DEC) recognized that younger forests were needed to support many species being observed to have population declines. The DEC kicked off the Young Forest Program to create habitat for a whole host of wildlife species and to better the health and diversity of forests on Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). Part of this initiative involved support from many cooperating partners like the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS),…

Read More

Hand-Cutting Hope: Non-Commercial Aspen Regeneration in the Great Lakes

by

by Seth Finkel, RGS & AWS Western U.P. Public Lands Project Coordinator In the Great Lakes region, it’s difficult to understate the importance of young aspen for ruffed grouse and American woodcock as well as a multitude of other non-game species. For decades we could count on the timber industry’s hunger for pulp to keep aspen cut on rotation and keep habitat on the landscape. Unfortunately, this situation is no longer the case. There are tens of thousands of acres of rapidly aging aspen forest that will never be commercially harvested, typically due to terrain that makes operating equipment dangerous or…

Read More

Trees of Time: Expanding the Legacy of Boquet River Restoration 

by

Read the full article at Trout Unlimited

In the early 1990s, TU volunteer Rich Redmen had the idea to use large Willow stakes to resurrect a deeply eroding stream bank on the Boquet River in Wadhams, N.Y.

At the time, it was a common practice to load eroding banks with large rocks, often called rip rap. But rip rap could cost 15 to 20 times more than a willow-staking project. Rip rap can also generate downstream flow issues and problems. 

Join Or Renew Now