NWTF Wildlife Biologist Testifies for Active Management

Dowd Bruton, NWTF regional biologist, before Congress Click image for print quality version

WASHINGTON — National Wild Turkey Federation Senior Wildlife Biologist Dowd Bruton of Traphill, N.C., testified before members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Thursday, Sept. 27 about the need for active forest management on national forests.

Bruton, whose NWTF wildlife biologist duties cover Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky and West Virginia, testified about the Federation’s concern with HR 1011 in that it’s overly aggressive in terms of adding additional Wilderness Areas in the Jefferson National Forest.

The problem with designating additional Wilderness Areas is that any type of active management, such as timber thinning or prescribed burning, is restricted on those parts of the forest. However, trained wildlife biologists know that active management is the key to forest diversity.

If passed, H.R. 1011 would designate 27,817 acres in the Jefferson National Forest as new components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Specifically, the bill would designate the following areas: Brush Mountain East Wilderness, Brush Mountain Wilderness, Raccoon Branch Wilderness, Stone Mountain Wilderness, Hunting Camp Creek Wilderness, and Garden Mountain Wilderness.

H.R. 1011 would also designate 11,344 acres as additions to existing wilderness areas namely, Mountain Lake Wilderness, Lewis Fork Wilderness, Little Wilson Creek Wilderness, Shawvers Run Wilderness, Peters Mountain Wilderness and Kimberling Creek Wilderness.

“There are four fundamental criteria that each forest species needs for survival. These are food, water, shelter and space,” Bruton told the panel. “Depending on how a forest is managed, various amounts of each of these criteria become available to the animals that live there. When wildlife managers consider wildlife species and their habitat requirements, active management is the best solution to meeting the needs of the largest variety of species.”

During his testimony, Bruton also told the panel that wildlife has been managed by God and man since creation. Lightning strikes, forest wildfires, and windstorms have existed for all time. They create openings in the forest for wildlife and that in the days before European Settlers came to America, Native Americans cleared land for their livestock and crops to support their families. They used prescribed fire to clear the underbrush in the forest and promote the growth of grasses and forbs on the forest floor, which they used in their day-to-day life.

Wildlife also benefited from this clearing and burning. When the settlers arrived, many accounts from those settlers indicate the overwhelming species diversity and actual numbers of species. Those early settlers simply expanded what native Americans had been doing for thousands of years. As a result, they fed their families and understood the value of forest management and biodiversity.

Unfortunately, some factions think that no management is best and want to increase lands with a wilderness designation. As the forest matures into an old growth forest, the trees become tall and the canopy of the forest closes in, restricting the sunlight that reaches the forest floor.

As a result, many of the grasses, forbs, and shrubs that are dependent on that sunlight can no longer exist and plant species diversity suffers. In good years, this old growth forest produces huge amounts of acorns, hickory nuts, beechnuts of other hard mast. These favored wildlife foods will provide a bountiful food option for many species of wildlife.

“But, in bad years,” Bruton told the panel. “There will be mast failure and this same forest becomes a virtual desert, void of food and void of shelter because the grass, forb, and shrub layer has been removed due to the loss of sunlight. Where is the gray squirrel, or the small rodents, or even the deer, turkey, grouse, or bear to go for food? Animals caught in the middle of thousands of acres of food-barren wilderness will suffer.”

Many people believe that wilderness protects the forest and its wildlife species from man. Science simply does not corroborate that belief, in fact the studies above and many more prove that active forest management, including prescribed fire, reduces the build-up of fuel levels within the forest and protects against catastrophic wildfires and protects biodiversity. Further, wilderness designations severely limit what can be done to mediate the damages after a catastrophic event such as a wildfire or storm.