Aspen management

Attached is a map that has the 4 main areas of aspen on my property. I don’t know any history but I assume it was clear but a long time ago because it is, for the most part, all the exact same height and mostly homogeneous in these areas. I will attach pictures in a reply showing what I mean.

There are currently a lot of grouse in these areas butm it was recommended that I could improve it by getting some aspen age diversity going and/or by cutting some scatter pockets and planting other things.

This is in the Embarrass area and I was wondering what you all would recommend I do with the areas I have.

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Pictures

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More pictures

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There are several excellent publications about managing properties for rough grouse habitat.

You are correct one of the keys is diversity in age of timber. You’re also correct that it appears your land was clear-cut at one time because all the trees are the same age. This can produce good numbers for a while but eventually the timberwolf be too uniform in age to provide the things the grouse need.

For some reason the site will no longer let me post links. You’ll have to Google grouse habitat management and there is a good publication from the Minnesota DNR available.

I’ve seen another publication from the Michigan DNR that is also very thorough. You should be able to search and find it.

In my opinion the best time to manage timber is early winter. Before the snow gets too deep but late enough that all the leaves are off and it’s easy to see and walk in the forest.

If you don’t already have it, invest in a good high quality chainsaw that is lightweight. Lots of power is meaningless if the saw is too heavy to work with all day. Also invest in a good sharpening device. Make life a lot easier for yourself by keeping a sharp chain on the saw. Generally this involves changing chains 1 to 2 times a day.

Man that’s a clean woods!

Not sure of Aspen but 2- 1×6 boards of walnut cost me $200 last week. Good time to harvest any wood it seems

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

For some reason the site will no longer let me post links. You’ll have to Google grouse habitat management and there is a good publication from the Minnesota DNR available.

Thanks, I’m looking for and reading whatever documents I can find! The thing I’m unclear on is how much to cut down and in what pattern. Most of the publications are talking about a lot more than 3 acres so it isn’t really clear to me what is appropriate.

The forester said one option is cutting scattered small openings and planting “white spruce (because they provide great winter cover), white pine, red pine, red maple, and fruiting shrubs (things like serviceberry, chokecherry, elderberry, red osier dogwood, etc.) These are good for wildlife and pollinators.” or I could just cut down some areas and let Aspen come back or both… So many options and it takes so long to come back I’m hesitant to jump in without a good plan.

If you had a 3 acre plot to work with what would you do to it?

Reef W wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
For some reason the site will no longer let me post links. You’ll have to Google grouse habitat management and there is a good publication from the Minnesota DNR available.

Thanks, I’m looking for and reading whatever documents I can find! The thing I’m unclear on is how much to cut down and in what pattern. Most of the publications are talking about a lot more than 3 acres so it isn’t really clear to me what is appropriate.

The forester said one option is cutting scattered small openings and planting “white spruce (because they provide great winter cover), white pine, red pine, red maple, and fruiting shrubs (things like serviceberry, chokecherry, elderberry, red osier dogwood, etc.) These are good for wildlife and pollinators.” or I could just cut down some areas and let Aspen come back or both… So many options and it takes so long to come back I’m hesitant to jump in without a good plan.

If you had a 3 acre plot to work with what would you do to it?

Feathered edges, clover plantings and some selective hinge cutting should help the grouse population. It will also help the deer population.

I’d have all those trails planted in clover immediately. Grouse LOVE it.

Angler II wrote:

I’d have all those trails planted in clover immediately. Grouse LOVE it.

I’ve thought about too as I have a number of large trails. Would overseeding accomplish anything or would I need to till it?

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If I’m seeing things correctly the plot looks to be nominally 40 acres with a ballpark of 10sh acres previously cut. Some of the things I have read for ruffed grouse management is they would prescribe a new cutting every 10 years. Once complete you would have a patchwork of 0-10, 10-20, 20-30 & 30-40 age classes present at which point you can repeat the cycle by cutting the oldest stands at age 40. The grouse use different ages at different times of the year. The older stands become more important for winter food. The younger stands for brood rearing. You would also have intersections of different aged timber so they are available to the birds within their home ranges. One benefit of logging is the staging areas and roads can become forest openings where you could plant (or get natural recruitment) of some of the soft mast shrubs like hawthorn, crab apples, etc. Roads could be mowed for better clover. I would think the DNR would have resources that could come out and take a look to help formulate a plan. RGS could be another resource.

I’m no expert, but that looks too young to be of interest for a logger. Not to mention the areas seem smaller than they might be interested in. I’d contact the local DNR and county forester and ask them questions. You may get lucky and someone may be cutting close to you where it could worth it.

Another option would be to contact companies like https://wildernesslandimprovement.com/ and http://mulchingmania.com/. I used a local tree service to clear a portion of my property and they used one of the drum mulchers. OMG that thing was awesome!