Hey y’all! People have been making guesses in the notes about what he could’ve meant, and I’m here to tell you that as far as I or anyone else I’ve asked knows, the Soviet Union collapse had decidedly No Role in the decline of Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) in Ohio.
I got my first wildlife degree in Soitheast Ohio, and the Ruffed grouse was a bird I heard a lot about. Some of my identification courses had exams focused solely on the species and its decline. The Soviet Union never came up.
Ruffed grouse rely on young forests with a mix of early successional and mature growth habitats.
When a forest is disturbed by humans or naturally (through logging, fires, controlled burns, etc.), the open spaces created start to grow back slowly. The early stage of regrowth is called “early successional,” which you can see in this graphic at the first stage and into the second:
Early successional forests are shrubby, with a lot of brush, briars, grasses, and old logs.
Ruffed grouse specialize in these habitats, because the low-lying brush is vital for them to use as cover in the winter, for ground-nesting and brooding, even to house the insects which are the main diet of the young chicks. The logs are used for the males’ “drumming” displays during mating season. The slightly older trees also provide important insect foood sources and habitat.
Ohio used to be abundant in these successional and mixed forest habitats. Much of Ohio used to be deforested for farmland (bad for other reasons), but throughout the 1900s, many commmunities moved away from farming their land, especially in the East.
The fields were left to regrow on their own, and the perfect grouse conditions cropped up for several decades.
However, now these forests have aged, and the Ruffed grouse has suffered steady habitat loss to these mature forest stands since the 80s.
Flushes here refers to a grouse hunter scaring a bird out of its hiding spot to fly away (usually using a birding dog), but not necessarily a kill. Drummers refers to positively identified male drumming displays.
The answer to this problem is proper forest management. Controlled burns, prescribed logging, and strategic mowing are all useful to creating habitat for the Ruffed grouse (and for other wildlife species that depend on early successional and mixed habitat).
Unfortunately, even in areas where forest management has become stable, Ruffed grouse aren’t necessarily bouncing back. West Nile virus, predation, and climate change are also factors negatively affecting Ruffed grouse populations in Ohio.
This year, the Ohio Division of Natural Resources proposed new hunting season regulations on the Ruffed grouse. It’s sad news for grousers, but hunters are themselves often leading the cause for habitat management and increased protections. Hunters who own land have been working with the Ohio DNR to create and maintain mixed forests habitat for the birds, which benefits dozens of other species along the way.
So what? Are mature forests BAD? No, absolutely not. Mature forests are vital for other species. What we need in a healthy forest is diversity.
The Ruffed grouse is only one species that relies on forest diversity, and forest diversity is achieved through disturbance.
Before the U.S. was colonized, Indigenous peoples across the continent used prescribed burns and logging to create optimal habitats for many species, as well as living spaces for humans (x). For thousands of years, this country has known the helping touch of the human hand. The problem isn’t human disturbance, it’s the colonizers’ approach.
Post-colonization, we have been told again and again how bad fires are for forests and wildlife, but Indigenous traditional knowledge has always told another story, and now even non-native ecology is catching up.
Forest disturbance is vital to diversify habitats for countless species. The Ruffed grouse is only one of those which will benefit from better forest management.
If you’re interested in the troubled story and the potential hope and management for the Ruffed grouse in Ohio (and other states), you can check out the Ruffed Grouse Society to stay informed and find out how you can get involved.
Anyway, that’s an extremely abridged history of one bird in Ohio. You can read more on your own if you like. I just think you’ll be hard-presses to find that the collapse of another country’s economy had anything to do with the decline of this bird on any truly relevant level. If you find something, I’d genuinely like to know! WHAT was that guy talking about.....
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