Aspen and Ruffed Grouse

I wish I'd kept a copy of the hunter survey's that I did for the RGS, but as I recall the top three states for grouse flush rates were always Mn, Wi or Mi, generally in that order. I also recorded, annual consumption of aspen in each state and the same three were also the highest, by quite a margin. Certainly they do exist where there are no aspen, but it certainly is a major player in the grouse domain. I'd noticed in our yard that some winters grouse would feed in our highbush cranberry and other years not at all and bounced this observation off Dr. Gullion and to my surprise he said this is even true with aspen. It happened once during their Cloquet study. The implication is that a total aspen environment isn't always a good thing in winter time; once again, chisel nothing in stone. Of course this was good news for CSF since we peddle winter feed shrubs! You might want to touch base with the Maine Forest Service and find out which biomass units were aspen consumers and ask if they have record of cutting sites that are 2-10 years old which is the window of prime brood habitat in aspen clear cuts. This might get you closer to home than the Millinocket area in your search for prime bird hunting even thought many of these plants are shut down, you have a few years to reap their beneficiation of grouse habitat.

Certainly most of the clear cuts in Maine are much larger than 10 acres, at least the margins of these cuts should offer the best combinations of stand ages important for good habitat.

If you aren't already aware, the best regeneration of aspen comes on sites that are prepped in the dormant season, where all trees, slash and vegetation are removed to allow maximum solar illumination and elevation of soil surface temperature in the spring and early summer. A good regeneration is considered to be 20,000+ stems/acre.

Mike Hradel

WILDLIFE HABITAT – TROUBLE IN PARADISE

As America’s economy has shrunk, so has production of forest products; paper, lumber, wood composites, and energy from wood fueled power plants. Many of their production facilities are being cut back, shut down entirely and some being scrapped for short term quick bucks, never to start again. With all this comes a reduction in forest harvest, the wellspring of grouse, woodcock and the bulk of other wildlife habitat regeneration. This evolution is one to be viewed with alarm. Other than everyone’s personal effort to restore America’s competitiveness in the world marketplace, not everyone is in a position to do anything about this, but if you are, switching your home and maybe your neighbor’s to wood heat is worth considering. By managing your wood harvest methods you can do a better job than many industrial harvesters do for habitat regeneration.

For habitat regeneration a prime choice for firewood is aspen, which is severely under harvested. Much of our aspen acreage is being lost to forest succession which favors more shade tolerant species.

Unfortunately in many circles aspen has a bad reputation as a firewood but I would like to take exception to that misconception. For one, I have heated my home for years here in west Michigan, largely with aspen and would like to toot it’s horn to those with an open mind. True enough, it is slightly less dense than some of the favored species so if you buy it by the cord you’ll get less bang for your buck. However on a per pound basis aspen is equal or even slightly above the favored species in heating value. If you cut your own wood as most do, aspen is a good choice. Another common criticism is that it buns to quickly. When winter wind is howling under your eaves that is exactly what you want happening in your firebox! Take a close look at your neighbor’s no-aspen wood pile. Almost without exception you will notice their wood has all been split, adding many man-hours to their wood pile. If you ask them why, the answer you’ll get is that it burns better, to which I say, “Yeah, just like aspen!” The only split wood in my wood pile is that too large to fit through the stove door. A large variety of wood diameters in your wood pile is an asset heat management, superior to draft management of your stoves heat output. When you have to cut back on you draft your fire burns less efficiently, giving off carbon monoxide, creosote, smoke and other unhealthy fumes and attendant wasted heating value. Large diameter wood is useful in not so cold weather since it burns more slowly. We also use it in cold weather when we will be out of the house for long periods, a single popple log will last up to twenty-four hours when started on a bed of coals.

Another bonus of aspen is in kindling production, a labor intensive portion of your woodpile. The branches are stiff and brittle with much kindling being produced just in felling the tree. Dead branches can be reduced to kindling just by walking over them or wacking them on anything solid, far faster than you can wield a saw or wood splitter.

Aspen is low ash firewood, about one percent. Others are mostly higher, as much as 10% ash, which will increase the frequency that you will have to shovel out your stove.

Other species are certainly useful in your woodpile. It is desirable to clear out other species when you are doing an aspen clear cut since their shade will suppress soil temperature which will reduce aspen suckering and hence habitat quality. I particularly like to burn apple and cherry for their pleasant smell when I’m going to be working out around the yard.

Clear cuts are best done in the dormant season since this minimizes the window of opportunity for weeds and brambles to spring up which will shade, and reduce aspen regeneration as detailed above. When you have completed a clear cut the important final step is to inspect it for any small aspen trees or suckers too small for firewood. These should all be cut as well since their presence sends a signal the root matrix not to sucker as vigorously. This step is typically not attended to by commercial cutters so you should do it on your own if that is the type of harvest you are having done.

Mike Hradel
Cold Stream Farm LLC
Freesoil, Michigan

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis)

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) 3' transplants at nursery

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) 3' transplants at nursery

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis)

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis)

White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis)

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) sightscreen

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) mature windbreak at nursery

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) pruned hedge

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) seed crop

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) 6 months after planting 2-3' transplants

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) 6 months after planting 2-3' transplants

Cedar: White (Arborvitae) (Thuja occidentalis) mature windbreak at nursery

Whitetail Deer Impact on Wildlife Habitat: Project

Here in west Michigan we have a diverse wildlife community. Some species are plentiful here; others are not, depending upon how their habitat needs are met. Since we moved to Free Soil in the mid 70's some species have prospered like deer and others have waned like towhee, thrushes, grouse and woodcock. Since we've lived here the deer browse line has become more evident indicating destruction of the forest under story. This destruction is detrimental to the carrying capacity of wildlife that depends on the under story for feed and cover. The deer are more versatile than many other species in that they can adapt to life in farmers fields and in a pinch, people's yards and feeding stations that people set up for them. Even so large numbers of deer starve to death during a harsh winter when farmers are lucky enough to get all their crops harvested before winter. Since the ban on feeding deer has gone into effect this will put added pressure on forest under story and its inhabitants.

Four years ago I bought a largely open 20 acres that has been fallow for some years now on the southeast corner of the intersection of Custer and Fountain Roads. I am in the process of filling it up with under story wildlife habitat species with an emphasis on winter bearing fruit species. The 20 is perhaps 80% planted now on 2x3 foot spacing and the deer have been feeding on it with gusto. Deer beds have become a common sight as of last summer. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to get counts on deer bed densities before hand so I can't make a numerical comparison. I have monitored bird population and recorded it. So far there are only a few birds present that prefer field habitat. I suspect that this field would remain field in spite of my planting efforts except that I intended to fence half of it to circumvent the destruction of the plantings by the deer. I completed fencing the south half in the fall of 2008. I anticipate completing the planting in perhaps 2010. Some years down the line, I'll probably be forced to fence the north half if we expect to see it harbor anything but a few field dwelling birds in the summer time. In the winter it is largely a wildlife desert other than a couple pheasant that passed through once.

I hereby invite any who are interested in this project watch it along with me. I would be interested in any suggestions you might have and any wildlife counts that you would care to contribute to measure the progress of this project. I don't get down there as often as I should.

Mike Hradel
Cold Stream Farm
2030 Free Soil Rd.
Free Soil, Mi 49411
http://www.coldstreamfarm.net/