Search the Community

New Jersey is fast approaching total disappearance of its young forest habitat, known as early successional forest. Many plants flourish in these young forests, made young once again either by natural causes including fire, disease, drought, winds like Hurricane Sandy, or flooding (as is often the case with beaver dams near streams) or by man's manipulation to cut down aging portions of the mature forest to mimic what we have taken out by fighting fires and diseases. In any healthy forest, you would typically find anywhere from 5% to 10% in young forest habitat. The trees in the mature forest surrounding these areas would be of a mixed age and not the single aged stands we see throughout NJ which was logged 100% over several times in many cases. As a direct result of over-harvesting of our forests in the latter 1800s and into the early 1900s, this state has moved too far the other direction, in my opinion and in the opinions of most, if not all foresters and biologists. We do very little timber harvests for wildlife habitat in NJ on public lands, and efforts to do more are often met with misguided, but well meaning anti-loggers who squelch projects that would actually benefit wildlife which the average New Jersey resident says is important to them for viewing as well as for those of us that hunt, obviously. The fight we who want more public lands logging are faced with is mostly 1) paranoia about rare and endangered plants for which protocols are already in place to avoid those sensitive areas, as well as 2) fear that invasive plants will move in, 3) that deer will over-browse sites, 4) that this is nothing more than money grab, to name the primary ones. The main reason for the largely disappeared ruffed grouse, king of upland shooting, is a severe lack of young forest habitat in the Ridge & Valley, Piedmont and Highlands regions. It is not too many predators although that base has grown and has added to low grouse numbers. But habitat has always remained king. Always has and always will. And early successional forest is critical habitat for many non-game species as well as many game species. Grouse, woodcock, bobcat, fox, deer, turkeys, and bears all benefit from the edge habitat that young forests provide within a mature or adjacent to a mature forest and/or other habitats such as swamps. I wonder how well trained we as hunters are in making the case that more forestry work is needed and on an ongoing basis much like states such as PA do on a rotational basis on their public lands. The arguments against these forestry practices as I outlined above are largely baseless or easily worked around as some are very valid. 1) As for rare and endangered plants, we have recently seen some botanists (pros and amateurs that know their rare and native plants) take on the task of surveying proposed clear cut sites ahead of formal plans being presented by the state (most wildlife cuts seem to be happening on Division WMA lands, but some also in State Parks and Forestry Lands as well). If rare plants are encountered and are in harm's way, the cut can easily be altered to work around these vulnerable species. 2) As for invasive plants, they can be a serious issue and virtually dominate a forest if they are opened up to full sunlight. These areas should be either avoided all together or treated prior to forestry and with plans to treat post tree harvesting if needed to allow native trees and shrubs to reforest instead of invasive foreign plants. Invasives seem to take much better hold over our native plants in areas that were previously farmed as opposed to previously forested and that remain forested. But any forestry plan in NJ should include invasive species management. As for 3) deer over browsing, this is also a serious threat to having your newly logged forest come back in new growth of native vegetation. Deer densities should be within the capable holding range of the surrounding habitat and a biologist can work with you to let you know herd densities in the area you plan your forestry work. I've had to manage a lot more does for two years than our property would normally take off it, but only two years until my new clear cut grew up above their browse lines. 4) The money grab for Trenton just can't exist, at least not while we have virtually no timber mills of any size near our state. Much of our wood goes to NY or PA and sees a lot of trucking costs and not nearly as much profit. We're talking thousands per large cut, not tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. More later with some pictorials. I'd love to hear others' experiences with forestry work or questions or comments. It's all good to learn from one another. I know I certainly don't have all the answers!