Pennsylvania Game News - April 2022 - 34

record-high West Nile virus levels during
the summer. The last two years have had
low West Nile levels and our populations
have rebounded. "
The summer of 2021, he added, was
a moderate year for West Nile, which
should be reflected when flush rate data
for this past fall is finalized.
There's no way, of course, to control
West Nile. That would require controlling
weather and mosquito densities.
But there is a way to mitigate it. Williams
long has said that increasing the
amount of quality habitat in the right
places may allow grouse to survive and
even thrive in the face of disease.
Just what constitutes " good " ruffed
grouse habitat varies slightly based on
the season. The birds need drumming and
brood cover at some times, nesting and
thermal cover at others.
That always means young forest of
some kind or other, though. And that kind
of grouse habitat has been in short supply
in recent decades.
" Forests that are 20 years old or less
are the most important habitat for grouse, "
Duren said. " The amount of young forests
in Pennsylvania has been declining and
currently makes up around 6% of our
forest. "
The Game Commission is working to
Cover Painting by gerald W. Putt
The thumping begins slowly and builds to a rapid crescendo
as the male ruffed grouse rotates its wings back
and forth. The wings might beat up to 50 times during
this sequence. " Solo Drummer " is this year's Working
Together for Wildlife print, sales of which benefit nongame
management and research. A limited quantity of
15- by 22½-inch prints are available for $125 unframed,
plus $12.95 shipping and handling for all mail orders.
Call for framing price. Pennsylvania residents must
add 6% sales tax on all purchases. Order online at
HuntFishPA, www.pgc.pa.gov or call 1-888-888-3459.
34
change that on state game lands.
Dave Gustafson, the Game Commission's
Bureau of Wildlife Habitat Management
Director, said the agency is doing
about 10,000 acres of timber sales - which
create young forest from old - each year.
That's nearly double what it was doing a
dozen years ago.
Even more notable is this: the Game
Commission is also doing a record
amount of non-timber sale forest management.
That's cutting trees and creating
habitat in places it hasn't traditionally
been able to touch, such as hard-to-reach
side slopes or areas where pulpwood quality
is so poor that it didn't pay loggers to
harvest anything.
" Those places don't lend themselves to
a traditional timber sale, " Gustafson said.
" But they're great potential habitat opportunities.
We just have to pay somebody to
do the work. "
Ten years ago, the Game Commission
did virtually no contracted-services work,
as it's called. In-house habitat management
crews and foresters maybe cut a few
hundred acres - total, statewide - that way,
but that was it.
Now, though, the Game Commission is
doing about 11,000 acres of non-timbersale
logging on game lands annually.
That's going to make a huge difference,
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Pennsylvania Game News - April 2022

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