GRAND RAPIDS -- A lot of folks who love grouse, grouse hunting and the grouse woods gathered in Grand Rapids last week to celebrate several events.
Among them:
And also coincidentally, the Forestry Division of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. As most grouse hunters know, grouse and forest practices are closely related. Young successional forests, primarily aspen, are an important habitat for ruffed grouse.
So, while grouse hunters tuned up for the national hunt on Wednesday, a group of about 50 foresters, forest industry officials and Department of Natural Resources wildlife officials gathered at the Forest History Center outside of Grand Rapids to talk about trees and grouse. And to celebrate the RGS and Division of Forestry anniversaries.
The discussion focused on the health of the forest industry in Minnesota and beyond. That industry has been hurt by the downturn in the economy and particularly by the depressed housing market.
Mike Zagata, president and CEO of RGS, said timber harvest in the eastern United States also has been slowed by public sentiment against cutting.
"I'm not sure you appreciate how lucky you are to be in Minnesota," Zagata told the group. "You're lucky because so many of you still have a tie to the land. As such, you understand it's difficult to preserve a forest. You can preserve the land beneath it, but you can't preserve the forest."
As forests age in the eastern U.S., Zagata said, grouse and other birds that rely on younger forests have diminished in number.
"The ruffed grouse is listed as a 'species of greatest concern' in all the New England states except Maine," Zagata said.
Some species rely on older forest habitat, and that should be in the mix, too, he said.
"Nobody's talking here today about having all young successional forest," Zagata said. "What we're talking about is a mosaic (of varying ages of forest)."
In Minnesota, timber harvest has dropped in recent years, said Duluth's Wayne Brandt, executive vice-president of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association and Minnesota Forest Industries.
"We're harvesting about 70,000 acres less (per year) than we were six years ago," Brandt said. "That means less new growth. It means forests are going to continue to grow old."
Despite those trends, the Ruffed Grouse Society is holding its own, Zagata said. Membership in the organization has increased in the past few years.
The National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt has been important to the society not only for the money it raises directly, said Wayne Jacobson of Grand Rapids, who helped start the hunt.
"We've had people come to the hunt and join the board and donate millions to RGS," Jacobson said. "It's incalculable what effect (the hunt) has had on the society."
After the gathering at the Forest History Center, many of the people in attendance slipped into some blaze orange and went looking for some grouse south of town. In a nice mix of young and mature forest, they found plenty.
