HABITATS: It was about a decade ago that volunteers worked with Collins Pine Co. to create a forest habitat for the woodcock on company property.

The Ruffed Grouse Society recently shared the story of the project — and invited others to come forward who would like help with a wildlife habitat project.

Our area is rich with good homes for wildlife, but there’s always room for improvement, according to the society.

“We are blessed in northern Pennsylvania with several large timber companies managing forests on a sustainable wood harvest basis — benefits abound for songbirds, deer, grouse, small mammals, snowshoe hare, bobcats, and other forest wildlife,” writes RGS. “But, every once in a while you see an area where volunteers can step in to enhance good sustainable forest management and create habitat for a forest niche critter.”

The Ruffed Grouse Society talked about the work that went into creating — and maintaining — the woodcock habitat.

“Collins Pine Company was creating a wood harvest in McKean County and also harvested a stand of aspen to enhance browse and high stem density forest regeneration for birds and wildlife,” the organization states.

Collins Pine contacted the society to look at an aspen stand that “was not harvestable under normal harvesting methods,” and the society “decided to add to the habitat mix by cutting the small stand of aspen to encourage root suckering. This small stand surrounded an abandoned oil and gas pond that was now providing home for amphibians and turtles.

“The RGS completed the harvest of the small aspen stand, but what to do next with the barren, hard clay landscape around the oil and gas pond?”

In comes the work of volunteers. Every year the volunteers have been back to plant silky dogwoods, gray dogwoods, common alders, smooth alders, buttonbush, crabapple, and other seedlings adjacent to the pond to create a brushy thicket.

“The thicket has taken hold and now provides habitat for songbirds and a feeding place for woodcock under the alders and dogwoods. The hard clay banks of the pond now have a soft loam underneath the thicket. Salamanders and turtles still utilize the pond, but now another dimension of wildlife can also utilize the pond.

“Adjacent to the pond in the goldenrod field, volunteers have also planted black and white spruce seedlings.

“Twenty years from now those seedlings will provide winter thermal protection for grouse,” the Ruffed Grouse Society predicts.

The Ruffed Grouse Society promotes forest management and works to maintain habitats for a variety of wildlife. For more information, contact the organization at 512-2101 or wlhab@windstream.net.