Pennsylvania Game News - January 2023 - 44

within the South Zone.
The ruffed grouse flush rate - the
number of birds jumped per hunter per
hour - fell by about 18% in the South
Zone in 2021 compared to 2020.
The flush rate in the North Zone, meanwhile,
remained relatively unchanged.
That, Tyl added, shows grouse can hang
on, even in severe West Nile years, given
the right conditions.
" The North Zone has large tracts of
highly connected forests, and a lot of
that forested acreage falls within areas
that are considered low West Nile Virus
risk areas, " Tyl said. " This means grouse
within the North Zone have a high likelihood
of being in an area with relatively
low West Nile risk, making them more
buffered from severe disease years than
grouse outside of the North Zone.
" Additionally, a large portion of the
high-elevation areas within the North
HABITAT HELP
There is a public version of G-PAST that
private landowners can use to determine if
their ground falls within a grouse priority
area. It's easily found on the ruffed grouse
page at www.pgc.pa.gov.
Landowners also can get expert advice
on how to manage their woodlands for
ruffed grouse and other wildlife from a
few sources.
There are Game Commission Wildlife
Recovery Biologists who administer the
agency's Private Landowner Assistance
Program in every region of the state.
Contact information is available by
clicking " Get Involved " under the " Information
& Resources " tab on the homepage
at www.pgc.pa.gov. Select the
" Landowner Programs " box.
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources Service Foresters
and U.S. Department of Agriculture
District Conservationists offer help, too,
and can be contacted by following instructions
at www.dcnr.pa.gov.
44
Zone are relatively flat, due to being
on mountaintop plateaus. So, much of
the high-elevation areas with relatively
low West Nile risk are also operable by
timber harvesting equipment, which
makes implementing regular forest treatments
aimed at improving and creating
the young forest habitats in which grouse
thrive possible. "
Work to recreate those conditions
elsewhere around the state is underway.
Tyl said Game Commission foresters are
increasingly using G-PAST (the Grouse
Priority Areas Siting Tool), which identifies
where habitat work can do the most
good for grouse, to guide decisions on
where to do commercial and non-commercial
- i.e., solely wildlife-focused -
timber treatments. Some foresters with the
Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources, which manages state parks and
forests, are as well.
" We are hoping to make improvements
to this tool in the future to make
it even easier for foresters to incorporate
early successional forest habitat creation
into their management plans and project
proposals, " Tyl said.
That isn't to say grouse populations
will consistently climb everywhere.
Year-to-year population fluctuations are
the norm, West Nile aside, because of
traditional factors, such as weather during
the nesting and brooding period, Tyl said.
But all is not lost. There remains hope
for grouse in Pennsylvania.
" Continued strategic habitat management
- putting quality habitat in areas
with low disease prevalence - is the best
way to achieve longer-term population
recovery, " Tyl said " While it may take
a few years to see a population respond
positively to habitat improvements, the
effects of those habitat improvements will
be long-lasting. "
http://www.pgc.pa.gov http://www.pgc.pa.gov http://www.dcnr.pa.gov
Pennsylvania Game News - January 2023

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