330 The Ruffed Grouse 



require a rather expensive woven-wire type of fence to hold them. 

 Surely, most farmers would not consider this fencing justifiable only 

 for improvement of the woodland for grouse. Fortimately, under 

 almost all conditions in the northeastern country, many other values 

 combine to make fencing between woods and pasture feasible. The 

 continued production of wood products of all kinds definitely re- 

 quires that glazing be kept out in order that ground cover and 

 reproduction of trees remain normal and healthy. Watershed pro- 

 tection is greatly enhanced by ungrazed woodlands in which the 

 forest floor is much more absorptive than in those trampled by stock. 

 Lastly, and most telling from the point of view of the farmer, it is 

 usually true that domestic livestock lose more than they gain from 

 woodland grazing. Poor forage and excessive exercise, combined 

 with increased diflBculties of control, make woodland pasturing a 

 losing proposition. 



Occasionally wild herbivores, usually white-tailed deer in the 

 Northeast, may overbrowse the range with essentially the same 

 results as with domestic stock. The solution, however, is vastly dif- 

 ferent. Adequate seasons, bag limits, and hunters to reduce the herd 

 below the carrying capacity level can solve the problem in a single 

 shooting season, provided the public is not so oversold on the buck- 

 law principle as to refuse to allow the killing of does. After all, cor- 

 relating the kill to the production is merely a form of sustained yield 

 management. 



The status of fire in woodlands in the Northeast is clear. All pre- 

 cautions should be taken to prevent the occurrence of accidentally 

 man-set fires, and adequate provision should be provided for the 

 efificient control of fires set by lightning, or made by man for legiti- 

 mate purposes. This principle does not in any way invalidate the 

 proper use of fire. 



In extensive forest areas, often containing a high proportion of 

 public land, the setting of fires is most often by recreationists. Con- 

 trol is nowadays well organized in these areas and large areas are 

 seldom burned. Adequate trails for transportation, lookouts, tele- 

 phone and radio equipment, and other fire-spotting and fighting 

 facilities are generally well organized. In the noncontinuous range 

 the problem is different. Fires are most commonly the result of field 

 and hedge-row burning in connection with farm or road-maintenance 

 work. Control facilities are few and not so well organized. But the 



