CHAPTER XV 



DESIGNING GROUSE COVERTS AND SETTING UP 

 MANAGEMENT PLANS* 



By Gardiner Bump 



THE ESSENTIALS OF GOOD COVER DESIGN 

 Integration With Other Uses 



COVER ORGANIZATION 



Planting Design for Open Land — Overgrown Land Design — Woodland Design — 

 Clear-cut Units — Forest Stand and Game Cover Improvement 



PLANNING COVER IMPROVEMENT 



Establishing Management Objectives — Determining Current Cover Conditions — 

 The Cover Survey — Cover Type Mapping — Analyzing the Covert in Terms of 

 Grouse Needs — Recognizing Cover Deficiencies — Locating Hunting Areas and Seed 

 Stock Refuges 



ORGANIZING THE OTHER FORCES OF PRODUCTION 



Predation — Disease — Control of the Harvest — Dispersion of the Birds — 

 Some Generally Unproductive Practices — Providing Artificial Food and Shelter — 

 Restocking 



SETTING UP MANAGEMENT PLANS 



Basis — Organization of the Plan — Background — ^Objectives — Division of the Man- 

 agement Area — Covert Surveys — Analysis of Cover Conditions — Development and 

 Maintenance Plans — Regulation of the Harvest — Coordination with Other Uses — 

 Protection and Other Special Problems — Appendix. 



^ 



SUMMARY 



Nature produces the plants and animals that make up the environment in which the grouse 

 lives. Left to her own devices, the quality of the coverts produced, influenced as it is 

 by a variety of conditions, may be good or poor. It is perfectly practical, however, for 

 the sportsman, landowner or wildlife manager to plan and carry out changes in these 

 to the end that better coverts will result. These improvements should be made in ac- 



* The word "coven" is here used to represent the vegetative cover and physiographic features within a more or less distinct 

 unit, separated from other units by some easily recognized features such as open lands, roads or water. A covert may contain 

 one or many grouse habitats plus some relatively unproductive areas. 



