MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — It’s been a while since the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources had a specific biologist whose main focus is on upland birds, but that time is over. Mountain State bird hunters can welcome Dr. Linda Ordiway.
Ordiway, born and raised in Bradford, has always had a keen interest in ruffed grouse. As a child, she recollected trips through the Allegheny National Forest with her mother, now a stronghold for the declining Appalachian birds. After finishing her undergraduate degree in secondary education, she then completed her Master’s degree at Marshall University.
Once finishing her degree in Huntington, W. Va., and fieldwork in Pennsylvania, Ordiway worked in the Allegheny National Forest. But as a wildlife technician in the research lab, Ordiway began diving into silviculture — the growing and cultivation of trees.
“There was a forester there who was very frank. He’d look at us on the wildlife end and say, ‘You guys tell me what you want it to look like, and I can write you a prescription to do that,'” Ordiway recalled. “All this experience I gained, I continued doing bird work with the Allegheny National Forest for almost 14 years. Those folks there influenced me that if I wanted to make a difference in wildlife that I had to understand the forestry side of it.”
After weighing her options on where to continue her education, she landed at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY, where she finished with a degree in silviculture. Shortly after that, she took a job with the Ruffed Grouse Society as a regional biologist covering nine northeastern states. It was a perfect fit.
Then in March, between a combination of COVID-19 shutting down in-person fundraising efforts and a switch to a new model, Ordiway’s role with RGS was eliminated.
But it didn’t take long for Ordiway’s experience to lead her to the WVDNR job.
“In this position with the DNR, my focus is wearing a forester’s and silviculturist’s hat more than a wildlife manager’s hat,” she said.
Hitting the ground running with RGS, Ordiway’s work zone included West Virginia, a large reason she has been readily accepted by Mountain State hunters. Her experience in the hills of West Virginia and with grouse hunters goes back years.
Less than a month in, Ordiway is already diving in. Just as the Pennsylvania Game Commission developed its Grouse Priority Area Siting Tool, Ordiway is using a similar tool as one of her highest priorities to identify prime habitat.
The main thing Ordiway hopes to show those interested in grouse restoration is that she and the WVDNR are using sound science to accomplish its goals.
“Grouse habitat doesn’t have to be created through a clear cut. It’s created through sound silviculture, ” she said. “Sometimes sound silviculture says we need to go through stand initiation which means a clear cut to get everything started again, sometimes it’s prescribed fire.
“Food to me seems to be one of the limiting factors… If your understory is full of striped maple that may be a wonderful-looking structure, but that’s all that’s providing.”
Although grouse restoration in West Virginia has been ramping up for the last few years, it’s clear that Ordiway’s hiring is going to add another level to protecting the birds many hunters hold so dear.
