CHARACTERISTICS OF PRODUCTIVE GROUSE COVER 115 



characterized by large tracts of forest, unbroken, except where rock outcroppings or wind- 

 falls provide occasional small openings. Interspersed among these areas one finds beaver 

 meadows, lake shores, alder beds, cranberry bogs, burns and. about the settlements, clearings. 



Mountain slopes and swamps were originally clothed with spruce, balsam, pine or hemlock 

 mixed with hardwoods, notably beech, birch and maple. Although some virgin timber still 

 exists, chiefly on State land, most of the region has been cut over. The larger conifers and 

 some hardwoods have been taken for timber, the smaller ones floated to the paper mills for 

 pulp. The few roads traversing the area have made lumbering costly except on an extensive 

 scale, thousands of acres occasionally being involved in a single operation. On the higher 

 ground the succeeding second-growth is predominantly hardwood with spruce or pine while 

 in the lowlands and swamps, spruce, balsam and larch are often abundant. Here the white- 

 tailed deer have repeatedly browsed off the smaller hardwoods and the balsam. Largely as 

 an aftermath of logging, a number of severe burns have occurred, particularly in 190.3 and 

 1908, creating barrens into which such pioneer species as pin cherry and aspen are gradually 

 seeding. 



In terms of providing for the c<)\er requirements of grouse, most of the Adirondack forest 

 leaves considerable to be desired. Both second-growth and cut-over land are apt to occur 

 in large blocks, thus affording little of the interspersion of types commoidy found in the other 

 regions of the State. Conifers affording winter shelter are abundant, but the herbs, berries 

 and fruits furnishing good summer and fall food commonly occur in numbers only in the 

 alder runs, along the edges of the burns, in the recently cut-over lands and in the small, 

 often grassy, openings resulting from windfalls or from one or another of man's activities. 

 In such places grouse tend to concentrate; elsewhere they are usually quite scattered. About 

 the periphery of the region, however, the soils are more fertile and, as the forest 

 cover becomes more and more interspersed with farm land, one finds habitats of much better 

 quality. 



The Catskill Region 



Although similar in many respects to the Adirondacks. the Catskills have a forest cover 

 more varied and less continuous. Mostly a region of sedimentary rocks, its forests are of 

 birch, beech, maple, jiine and hemlock, with spruce at higher elevations, particularly on the 

 northern slopes. In type thev are more closely associated with the Alleghenies to the south 

 and the lower New England mountains to the east. Pastures thrust long fingers up from the 

 farms scattered along the valleys. The region has been extensively cut over, mostly in rela- 

 tively small blocks, the conifers for luniluM- and the hardwoods for cordwood and for saw 

 logs. In the western part, where acid wood distillation was once a thriving industry, the slopes 

 are largely grown up to second-growth hardwoods interspersed with hendock. Much of the 

 woodland is grazed though seldom with sufficient intensity to encourage much grass. There 

 are many overgrown pastures. 



The soil is more fertile than in the Adirondacks. thus producing a greater variety of species 

 and density of cover. Where the crown canopy of the woods is not too thick, undergrowth 

 and ferns, including mountain laurel and rhododendron in the southern half, occur over large 

 areas. Openings and cut-over lands commonly support a profusion of herbs and berries. 

 They also seed in fairlv rapidly to hardwoods and. occasionally, to hemlock and pine as well. 

 Abandoned farms are not uncommon. 



As might be anticipated under such conditions, woodland, cut-over areas and brushy pas- 



