Action on the Blue Ridge 



591 



fruit. The work has been expanded to 

 include pruning, releasing, and plant- 

 ing of game-food species, such as wild 

 raisin, persimmon, the thornapple, and 

 wild grape. 



Resident managers now make regu- 

 lar collections of seeds and cuttings 

 from shrubs and trees that produce 

 palatable game foods. The material is 

 sent to the Forest Service nursery at 

 Parsons, W. Va., where it is used to 

 grow seedlings that are subsequently 

 returned to the wildlife areas for plant- 

 ing under the habitat-improvement 

 program. Clumps of conifers also are 

 frequently planted in hardwood areas 

 to provide roosting and escape cover; 

 in coniferous forest areas, spot plant- 

 ings of hardwoods are made. 



The modern concept of forest game 

 management relies to a great extent on 

 manipulation of the vegetative cover to 

 create and maintain proper environ- 

 ment for wildlife. While wildlife is an 

 incidental product on practically all 

 forest areas, the cooperative program 

 stresses coordination of forestry and 

 wildlife objectives as a means toward 

 providing a stable environment that 

 will maintain game and fish produc- 

 tion at the highest level compatible 

 with other land uses. Forest rangers 



and others engaged in selling national 

 forest timber have been encouraged to 

 consider the wildlife needs in shaping 

 future plans for timber management 

 and this field offers great promise for 

 maintaining wildlife habitat at a fa- 

 vorable level. 



Much of the old-growth timber in 

 Virginia's mountain counties was cut 

 within a short span of years, and the 

 young, second-growth forest is there- 

 fore quite uniform in age. Old-growth 

 stands, which provide den trees, 

 acorns, fruits, and other mast, are not 

 plentiful. Young browse-producing re- 

 production is becoming less abundant 

 as the second-growth stand grows taller 

 and shades the forest floor. As a result, 

 much of the forest is now too old for 

 browse and too young for mast produc- 

 tion. The situation is being improved 

 on many areas by creating small open- 

 ings in the forest and retaining old 

 fields as permanent openings for wild- 

 life, but the final solution will involve 

 careful planning in the field of timber 

 management. Sustained timber produc- 

 tion and sustained wildlife production 

 have many requirements in common 

 on forested areas. 



The cost of clearing, planting, and 

 otherwise developing forest areas as 

 wildlife habitat is too great to be borne 

 by revenue derived solely from the sale 

 of hunting and fishing permits. For 

 economy and effectiveness, wildlife- 

 habitat improvement must be corre- 

 lated with forest management at every 

 step. Experimental work under the co- 

 operative program has done much to 

 point the way, and the close working 

 relationship between the Commission 

 of Game and Inland Fisheries and the 

 United States Forest Service has de- 

 veloped a new consciousness of wild- 

 life needs in the over-all program of 

 forest management. Under the Vir- 

 ginia plan, 1^2 million acres of forest 

 are being carefully developed under a 

 long-term program for wildlife pro- 

 duction. 



Meanwhile, the number of white- 

 tailed deer on the two forests has in- 

 creased from 2.400 in 1938 to 18.000 



