Sunday, December 21, 2003

Jim DeSaye has been grouse hunting since he was a youngster. He's seen good times and bad, in terms of finding birds. Lately, things have been pretty bad.

"It's been the worse year I can remember," said DeSaye.

But the lack of grouse isn't what's really bothering DeSaye these days. Even more troubling is the lack of people willing to help create habitat for the elusive game birds and their animal kingdom companions.

DeSaye is president of the Ruffed Grouse Society's Skylands Chapter, one of three RGS chapters in New Jersey. He worked hard to get state and federal government agencies to bless the chapter's willingness and ability to improve habitat for grouse, woodcock and other critters.

However, now that officials have given the RGS the go-ahead to do the habitat restoration projects on state and federal land, DeSaye can't find enough volunteers.

"It's a funny thing," said the Vernon resident. "I'm always meeting with people who are basically complaining there's no grouse, no pheasants, no nothing ... But I've got to be honest. Every state official I met wants us to do habitat work. They've got projects for us to do. The problem is manpower."

DeSaye, a landscaper by trade, is hoping to attract people who share the RGS's concern about disappearing game bird habitat. He stresses these volunteers need not become members of the society. They just have to show up for a few hours of tree cutting or sapling planting on a weekend morning.

"As far as I'm concerned, the hunters of New Jersey should be ashamed about what they're letting slip by," said DeSaye. "They're just letting it go. It's very unfortunate. We have a small group of very dedicated guys. But what we need is more people."

DeSaye said sportsmen's organizations have told him they have bigger issues to battle. But DeSaye said habitat restoration is vital to all hunters who care about the ecosystem.

"A local hunting club might say, 'Hey, that site's near our club. If we all got together and give them three hours one morning then, five years from now, it will help our deer or turkey hunting,'" said DeSaye. He also suggested Boy Scout troops might be interested in the work, perhaps "planting trees in an old cow pasture."

The main goal of RGS habitat work is to restore "successional" forest growth. That often means cutting down sections of old growth trees and planting aspens or dogwoods that provide food and shelter for the birds and other animals. Other projects involve planting seedlings in "old, overgrazed" fields where nothing except a few briar bushes can currently grow.

The RGS efforts have come under criticism by some environmental groups that denounce the cutting of old-growth trees. DeSaye notes many biologists agree with the group's efforts, since tall timber -- while beneficial to some species -- does little to help the smaller birds and mammals that need ground-level food and shelter.

Many of the group's proposed projects do not entail the use of chainsaws, according to DeSaye. "We're in a situation where far more of our projects will be planting and projects other than tree cutting," he said.

Last winter, the Skylands Chapter helped the grouse, woodcocks and songbirds living in the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. Society members removed about 100 old aspen trees from about 25 acres of the refuge. Over the summer, the land quickly began a transformation into dense, successional habitat.

A big problem for the RGS is the fact that the tiny group is hardly a household name. "People don't take us seriously because we're the Ruffed Grouse Society," DeSaye said. "If we were the National Wild Turkey Federation and we were screaming for volunteers, we'd be taken more seriously."

If spending a couple of hours in the outdoors on behalf of the feathered and the furry -- and the folks who hunt them -- sounds like a worthwhile experience, call DeSaye at (973) 702-8380.

"Call up and say, 'Put me on your list,'" he said. "Give me a couple of dates when you're available. We do projects throughout the year ... It's a very unfortunate thing that there's all this work out there to be done and there are not enough people to do it. But when it doesn't get done and it all slips away, people are going to ask why didn't somebody do something."