Fall 2023 13 The spotted owl does not exist in the eastern U.S., instead being a species that lives in old growth forests in the western states. However, the ripple effects from lawsuits filed against the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for their management strategies would forever change the landscape for our iconic gamebird. Lawsuits were successfully levied in the western states against the USFS for failing to protect old growth forest. These environmental groups were so effective in their push for old growth forests that the movement spread across the country eventually reaching Virginia. Greater scrutiny and eventually lawsuits were being levied on the USFS for logging operations on public lands, causing logging operations on Virginia’s National Forests to be quickly curtailed. However, in the western portion of Virginia environmental disaster loomed once again to cause yet another gasp for our beloved gamebird. The Insect Connection In the late 1980s and early 1990s a little bug made a big stir. The arrival of the spongy moth (lymantria dispar), formerly known as Gypsy moth, was noted by widespread defoliations in the western mountains. Large areas of defoliation became common and the resulting panic about the future of our oak forests was palpable. However, true to form, the grouse responded to the environmental changes. As would be expected from a bird that makes it’s living in disturbed spaces, the ruffed grouse was able to take advantage of those areas where natural plant succession was unfolding under the defoliated canopy. The grouse hunters were once again happy, living large on the excesses of the resulting landscape changes (although few understood why they were seeing the changes). Like all things, the highs must have a low. Starting around 2002 hunters began to sound the alarm bells. Something had changed, the grouse that had been there were now gone. The reports came trickling in, then pouring in over the proceeding years. Grouse just weren’t in the spots they used to be. What happened? In most cases of species declines, there isn’t just one thing that changed. In the case of ruffed grouse this is certainly the case. The decade-long battle for the soul of our forest land had taken its toll. The timber harvests of the 1980s were aging out, and grouse were not finding new areas of succession to move into. New logging had been drastically curtailed, both on public and private lands. Those pockets of open canopy created by the spongy moth reached canopy closure and the resulting benefits began to diminish. To top it off a new bug had arrived. This time, though, the grouse would lose the battle. We began to hear the reports of dead crows and blue jays in the northeastern U.S. It quickly became clear that a new virus had found its way onto our shores. West Nile Virus is spread by mosquitos in the Culex genus, primarily Culex pipiens. While the mosquito has been in North America for some time, the new strain of the virus arrived in New York in 1999 and quickly began to take its toll on our bird species. As birds migrated, they spread the virus to new areas through the bites of the mosquito. It took some time for biologists to pinpoint West Young forests with open canopy provide habitat for ruffed grouse. The flush rate (flushes per hour) for Virginia Grouse hunting cooperators since 1973.
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