THE MAINE FORESTER 
 
 
   Timber stands improvement should likewise be done in a manner that is
con- 
ducive to better future timber, and present and future game potentialities.
In 
release cutting it should be the practice to leave as many of the better
forest 
game-food trees as practicable and these should be somewhat scattered as
far as 
it is possible. Snags and wolf-trees are valuable as homes or nesting places
for 
birds, squirrels, racoons, etc., and should be left in sufficient numbers
to care 
for the needs of these animals. Piling the slash in large piles offers a
haven for 
protection for many of the small game species particularly grouse and rabbits.

   In clearing areas for fire lanes, a practice which will decrease the fire
hazard 
and at the same time provide additional food for practically all the wildlife
of the 
forest is to plant these strips to white clover. This clover is about the
first plant 
to become green in the spring and the last to be killed by frost in the fall.
The 
leaves of the clover afford a staple food for ruffed grouse and rabbits,
and is eaten 
generously by deer. 
   In the forests of Maine, the matter of cover suitable for grouse isn't
nearly as 
serious as the need of these birds for sufficient suitable food during the
late fall, 
winter and early spring months. It is during this time that the ruffed grouse

faces its real crisis. To provide the game species with natural foods of
the right 
kinds and in sufficient quantities well distributed over the whole of their
range, 
presents a real problem to the game technician in building up the game populations

to a maximum. 
   Grouse need different coverts during different times of the year. In the
spring, 
hardwoods are necessary for good nesting cover; in the summer slash areas
pro- 
vide berries and insects are made available; in the fall overgrown brush
land 
supplies fruits of various kinds and during the winter, the conifers furnish
the 
necessary cover protection, while the aspen and birches furnish through their

buds, the necessary food supply. 
   The cruising radius of the ruffed grouse has been found to be about two
miles. 
Then, within each two miles there must be found the necessary food and cover

requirements of this bird. It is obvious then that in order to make any areas

available and suitable for grouse, the right combination of food and cover
factors 
must be present. 
   Good foresters know how much timber they have on a given area in terms
of 
either cords or board feet. They may plan to harvest this on a sustained
yield 
basis. In order to determine the amount of potential tree wealth they have,
they 
cruise the area and estimate the crop in board feet or cords. The game technician,

likewise, will have to measure his potential stock of game species and all
wildlife 
for that matter, if he expects to put that enterprise on a business-like
basis. 
   The fundamental steps in the development of a wildlife management program

on any area can be simply stated as follows: 
        1.    What do we have?- INVENTORY. 
        2.-3. Where is it? How much of it is there?    CENSUS. 
        4.    What is wrong with it? -DIAGNOSIS. 
        5.   What can be done about it? - CONTROL. 
   The inventory, to be complete and of the most use, must include the animal
life 
as well as the plant life present on the area. 
   Knowing what animal life is pre'sent on any area, and where it is and
how 
much there is of it, the next step is to determine, how much there is of
it that can 
be removed annually leaving sufficient breeding stock for the next year.

   To determine what the limiting factors are in the production of any wildlife

species is probably the most important as well as the most difficult to determine

in a management program. 
   The last step in this 'sequence of procedure is in making such adjustments
and 
manipulations as will set the wildlife and its environment in harmony, with
the 
result that the land in question with its complement of resources will be
fully 
utilized. 
 
 
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