Whether you are a small family woodlot owner or manager of a large forest tract, there is much that you can do to have a positive impact on bird and other wildlife habitat by embracing sustainable forest management practices. This was the message from an array of agency, conservation and forest land managers speaking with 30 woodlot and forest owners and managers at a three-hour workshop in the heart of the Tug Hill area.

The workshop, held in the Constableville Fire House, was organized by a partnership led by Audubon New York and partly funded by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the State Sustainable Forestry Initiative State Implementation Committee to bring landowners together with experts on birds, other wildlife and forest management to encourage wildlife friendly sustainable forestry.

“The Tug hill region is one of the largest tracts of forest left in New York State and provides critical habitat for a great diversity of bird species, including Canada Warbler, American Woodcock and Ruffed Grouse,” said Jillian Liner, Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon New York.  “With the majority of these forests in private ownership, landowners in the region can play an important role in providing habitat to these species.  This workshop was designed to give participants the skills and contacts to make a big difference for birds and other wildlife in their woodlots.”

Michael Burger, Director of Conservation and Science, Audubon New York, explained that “good forestry makes good bird habitat.”  He added that “landowners and forest managers should strive to find the optimal balance between different stages of forest succession to sustain the greatest diversity of birds, and this workshop provided them with important information about the wildlife commonly found in forests of the Tug Hill region and how to encourage wildlife to use their property, as well as the resources, tools and experts available to help them plan for the future of their woodlands.”

The workshop included speakers from Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust, who discussed recent declines in bird populations in the region, the economic benefits of timber management, and the resources and incentives available to landowners, such as through conservation easements, who wish to conserve and manage their forest land.

In addition, participants also heard from Tim Burpoe, Division Forester for Molpus Timberland Management, LLC, which manages 30,000 acres of forest land on Tug Hill.  Burpoe explained the basic principles of forest management and that landowners large and small can develop a long sustainable forest management plan for their property.  “We actively manage our forest land and we do it on a big scale, but the same principles apply, large or small. A forest management plan increases the value economically and ecologically,” add Burpoe, whose company helps landowner in the area create such plans.

Audubon, with its partners, will offer woods walks in the spring to make suggestions about habitat conditions on privately owned lands and is organizing similar workshops for forest landowners in other parts of the state.  Landowners who were unable to attend the workshop, but are interested in receiving more information should contact Jillian Liner, Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon New York at 607-254-2437, or jliner@audubon.org.