Wildlife Habitat Management Plan
WISL WILDLIFE/ FOREST GAME
&
RECREATION AREA
Prepared by
Habitat for Wildlife &The Ruffed Grouse Society
2007
INTRODUCTION
This site is on Northumberland County owned land. It is east of RT 125, south of Burnside, east to near Excelsior on the north slope of Mahanoy Mountain. The old WISL radio towers are on the site so we have named it the “WISL site”
The site lies within the Appalachian physiographic region of Pennsylvania and the Shamokin Creek and Mahanoy Creek Watersheds. The property is primarily upland mixed oak (approximately 60%), with lesser amounts of, upland conifer forest (15%), strip pits/spill banks (9%), northern hardwoods, herbaceous openings. open water (<1% each) and miscellaneous other types including roads, right-of-ways, and minor forest types. Aspen is a major component of some of the mixed timber types. The majority of the forested acreage is 50-100 years old with poorly developed shrub/seedling/sapling layer due to forest maturation. Less than 10% of the forest is <20 years old, including 400 acres of the old Rosini mining area that could form the nucleus of early successional habitat management. Ideally, we would like to keep 10-15% of the County property in 5-15 year-old forest. This equates to maintaining 3-400 acres of high value wildlife habitat over the long term. At this level of habitat availability, the County and the public should be able to enjoy improved hunting and wildlife viewing.
OBJECTIVES
3. Clean up illegal dumpsites and stop future dumping.
OBJECTIVE 1 – Increase the grouse, woodcock, deer, turkey populations, improve hunting and non-game species sightings.
HABITAT MANAGEMENT
General
The most important factor for healthy ruffed grouse and deer populations is dense, young hardwood forests about 5-15 years old. This habitat may contain as many as 20-25,000 woody stems per acre. Such dense growth provides wildlife with protection from predators year-round and is particularly important for drumming male grouse in the spring. Old-field habitats with dense shrubs and saplings also can provide sufficient protection. Thickets of mountain laurel and rhododendron under an otherwise mature forest can be heavily used, especially in winter. Grouse, deer and other wildlife will be scarce or absent in open, mature forests.
The most efficient way to create good wildlife habitat at the WISL site will be through timber sales using clear-cut, shelter wood, or seed tree methods. Residual canopy cover should not exceed 25-30% to obtain the desired results. Timber sales must be conducted on a regular basis to ensure a continuous supply of wildlife habitat. Cutting blocks of 5-40 acres or more are ideal. Wildlife may use smaller patches temporarily. Cutting blocks should be located on lower slopes and flats and on north and east facing slopes where possible to capitalize on moister and cooler habitat conditions. The County should be able to generate revenue from timber sales to add to the general fund.
Aspen should be clear-cut at every opportunity either in conjunction with a timber sale or by hand during the dormant season. Cutting aspen and leaving it is acceptable. Extremely heavy slash can limit regeneration, but can protect the seedlings from deer. Aspen is probably more beneficial as cover than as food and can be expanded significantly if managed aggressively.
Thermal cover can be important in winters with little snow. Grouse readily take advantage of almost any snow for roosting, but snow at least 10 inches or so is needed for complete snow roosting. Snow exceeding 10” is common during northeastern PA winters, but small patches (1/4 to ½ acre) of conifers, preferably spruces, can be important when it’s cold with little snow.
Food is probably not a major factor in adult grouse survival. A variety of hard (acorns) and soft mast (berries) producing trees and shrubs are abundant. Scattered aspen, birch, and cherry also provide highly preferred buds and/or catkins. Grouse eat a wide variety of plant material and can even survive on a steady diet of mountain laurel leaves for short periods of time. A variety of soft mast-producing shrubs and small trees can be planted in isolated areas where food seems to be lacking.
Grouse generally nest in open forests, so there is little need to consider nesting habitat. Nests near good brood habitat tend to produce more chicks in the long run however (discussed in next section).
Drumming logs are typically not in short supply in PA forests. Tops of harvested trees usually provide enough drumming platforms, but several entire trunks per acre left lying in the harvested area will insure good drumming logs.
Strategies:
- Pursue funding for mine reclamation.
- Continue to implement timber harvests as rapidly as possible until 20% of the property is in the 0-15 year-old age class.
- Position cutting blocks on lower slopes and on north and east facing slopes when possible.
- Clear-cut mature aspen.
- Leave 3-4 drumming logs per acre, especially where the diameter of top branches is less than 12 inches.
- Plant small patches of spruce adjacent to woody cover where natural thermal cover is lacking.
- Plant food plots and soft mast trees and shrubs.
- Clean up illegal dumpsites through the “COALS “ project.
Brood Habitat
Poor survival of grouse chicks in the first month of life has been shown to be a major factor limiting the fall population in any given year in the Appalachians. Availability of food in the fall and spring, spring weather, predators, and availability of quality brood habitat all play a role in chick survival. Fall hard mast production has a dramatic effect on hen condition during the winter and spring and does seem to affect the quality of chicks and their ability to make it past the first month of life. Oaks dominate the WISL sites forest, but acorn production, along with spring weather and predators, cannot be controlled to any great extent.
Amount of brood habitat can be controlled, however. Good brood habitat is needed, open areas to provide moderate growth of herbaceous vegetation, which attracts insects, the exclusive food of grouse chicks in their first month. Openings must be small or intermixed with patches of dense cover to provide protection for vulnerable chicks. If herbaceous vegetation is too dense, chicks can’t move through it and probably will not use it. Old fields with interspersed herbaceous and shrub or seedling/sapling habitats are good brood habitat. The young forest stands and open areas may also provide cover for released quail if it is desirable to continue the program started at Habitat for Wildlife’s “Alaska site”.
Seeded food plots on reclaimed mine sites can provide excellent brood habitat. Recent research showed that chicks raised in areas with a high density of food plots survived better. Seeded food plots provide the herbaceous cover needed for insect production, are sufficiently narrow to allow for quick escape into cover, and can be accessed at many points along their length. Areas seeded with clover seem to be particularly beneficial; with the added benefit that clover is highly nutritious for adult birds and older chicks. Log landings also can easily be seeded.
Riparian areas, bottoms (hollows), and seeps can be extremely important for hens and chicks in the spring and summer. These moist areas provide the first green vegetation in the spring and a supply of insects and other foods in the summer and fall. Complete shade in these areas can limit the growth of herbaceous vegetation, shrubs and other under story vegetation. Careful management of these areas can be extremely beneficial for grouse, woodcock, turkeys and other wildlife.
Strategies:
- Maintain old fields by mowing in blocks or cutting large trees to prevent the field from becoming a forest.
- Seed (food plots) all skid roads, seldom-used vehicle trails, and other small openings.
- Manage bottoms and riparian areas to allow for herbaceous vegetation and relatively dense under story growth.
OBJECTIVE 2 – Develop several large core management areas to distribute hunting pressure
Several managed tracts as well as the reclaimed mine sites provide obvious core areas from which to build a landscape level grouse and deer habitat mosaic. The DCNR forester has already mapped some of these areas.
Strategies:
- Pursue effective forest regeneration cuts of 5-40 acres as quickly as possible within these core areas. The establishment of advance seedlings under the current stands is essential to the success of the regeneration harvest, so the DCRN forester will identify areas with adequate seedlings present or alternatively, use a shelter wood thinning to create better conditions for the rapid establishment of the seedling layer.
- Long term projects to cut aspen, especially where mature aspen trees are still healthy, will establish high quality cover quickly
- Where few conifers are present, plant white spruce, Norway spruce, or eastern red cedar to provide better winter roosting areas for grouse and cover for deer
- Enhance harvested areas and other openings with shrub or herbaceous plantings as needed to provide diverse cover and food supplies for grouse. Alder, aspen, silky dogwood, gray dogwood, hawthorn, and viburnum are all good species to provide higher quality habitat.
OBJECTIVE 3 – Enroll the 2175.5 Northumberland County WISL site in the PA Game Commission’s Forest Game program.
Benefits of “Forest Game” and land managed for wildlife.
- House Bill 18/ACT 11 of 2007 reduces liability for the County. This bill drew bipartisan support in the General Assembly, achieving unanimous votes in the House and Senate en route to the desk of Gov. Ed Rendell, who signed it into law on June 30.
Act 11 clarifies existing portions of the Recreational Use of Land and Water Act of 1965 to reaffirm the liability protection of landowners who allow others to hunt on their property. The new law applies to incidents on landowners’ properties as well as those that might extend off their land. Enactment of this law should prevent the posting of additional private lands to hunters and prompt landowners who may have closed off their property in reaction to the Lehigh case to take down their signs.
- Law enforcement. The PA Game Commission patrols land enrolled in Forest Game.
- Grants, supplies and work crews from National organizations like; The Ruffed
Grouse Society, National Wild Turkey Federation and Pheasants/Quail Forever.
- Tree seedlings from DCNR and the PA Game Commission
- Illegal dumpsite cleanups and monitoring.
- Keep the land open for public use.
- Habitat for Wildlife (HFW) will work with and under the guidance of the County engineer, DCNR forester and alongside other wildlife organizations both governmental and private to accomplish said goals. In addition HFW will apply for grants, oversee and implement projects at no cost to the County.
If this plan is implemented the site will see a dramatic increase of wildlife both game and non-game species. A site this size, with the recommended improvements will attract visitors, not only hunters who will enjoy the increased wildlife. We will have outdoor enthusiast of all sorts, hikers, walkers, bikers, birdwatchers, dog handlers and just plain folk who like to be outside in nature. In other words, TOURIST and with tourist comes tourism dollars. Eastern Northumberland County could benefit from tourism dollars.