GU DESIGNING GROVSE COl EKTS AND SETTING UP MANAGEMENT PLANS 



Objectives 



The purpose lo be fulfilled ljy the iiiaiiagi'iiR-nl area should be clearly dehiied in the 

 inanagenient plan. The various possibilities which might be considered under this heading 

 have previously been discussed in this chapter. 



Division of the Management Area 



To facilitate the development of an area it should be divided systematically into units. 

 No set terminology for these has as yet been established by common usage. The names 

 used by the Investigation when developing the experimental management units fall logically 

 into divisions based on area and use. The entire grouse area to be managed under one work- 

 ing plan may be called the management area. A major division of this, usually comprising a 

 main hunting and development unit, might be called a block. A smaller division, separated 

 by natural boundaries such as open fields or roads and containing a number of complete 

 grouse habitats, might be termed a covert. Habitat may be used to represent the grouping 

 of all the cover types and conditions necessary for the existence of a single group of grouse 

 or a brood. The habitat is composed of cover types. They are the individual vegetative com- 

 ponents of the habitat, so identified because each is made up of an association of plants suf- 

 ficiently distinctive to be recognized as fulfilling, at least in part, one or another of the food 

 or cover requirements of grouse. 



Depending upon the size and intensity of development of the management area, use will 

 be found for several or all of the terms here suggested. For the sake of clarity, a map, on 

 which each unit is outlined, named and identified by number or letter, might well be in- 

 cluded under this heading. 



Covert Surveys 



The next section to be included is the survey of conditions in each of the coverts which 

 collectively comprise the management area. The cover type maps, if they have been prepared, 

 should also be placed here. It is helpful, if tliis section is further subdivided, to include 

 separately all references to items other than cover. This allows one to picture quickly the 

 situation as regards predator conditions, distribution and abundance of grouse and other 

 game or buffer species. 



Analysis of Cover Conditions 



The covert survey provides a picture of current conditions. An analysis of these* to show 

 where changes are in order, is the purpose served by this section. All maps illustrative of 

 cover deficiencies should be included. 



Development and Maintenance Plans 



Plans for maintaining or improving existing conditions, based on an aiiahsis of the needs 

 indicated by the covert survey, must be laid. These should include the organization of plant- 

 ing plans for open fields; cover improvement schedules for maintaining or altering overgrown 

 or woodland ly])es; for laying out and setting up cutting instructions to establish and maintain 

 clear-cut areas; and for inter-planting to iiitnidiice desirable species, where such are needed, 

 into openings within a type. 



Plans for predator control (if necessary); for refuge location and development; for hunt- 



* See p. 626 for •uggcated procedure. 



