Vo 1. 18, No. 12 
Page 2 
T 
Only one female affected by the clear-cut was recovered after cutting (1 of 
t3* 7*7 percent), and she shifted her home range away from the clear-cut area. 
In the uncut forest, 15*4 percent of the adult females (6 of 39) were recovered 
during the same time period. 
We were unable to tag many juvenile gray squirrels in or adjacent to the 
clear-cut the year before clear-cutting. The only juvenile male tagged in the 
area to be clear-cut disappeared after clear-cutting. However, three of seven 
juvenile females survived the clear-cutting and established themselves in new 
home ranges. 
Recovery rates for all squirrels, whether affected by the clear-cut or not, 
were not high at Truetown. An unknown but significant amount of squirrel hunting 
took place each year during the study and undoubtedly removed many tagged squirrels. 
There were two clear-cuts on the 188-acre Doanville Area, one I 9.5 acres, 
the other 9.5 acres. Squirrel densities on the entire 188-acre Doanville Area 
remained essentially stable after cutting, declining only 5 percent. The sex 
and age composition of livetrapped samples taken in August for 2 years prior to 
cutting and for 2 years after cutting also did not materially change after clear- 
cutting. However, as at Truetown, squirrels avoided the clear-cuts at Doanville. 
Livetrap captures of squirrels with portions of the ranges in one or the other 
of the two clear-cuts made up 36.4 percent (20 of 55) of the total number of 
captures before cutting but only 3.2 percent (2 of 63 ) after cutting. 
Recovery rates were not significantly affected by clear-cutting at Doanville. 
Fifty percent (7 of 14) of the adult males whose ranges included a clear-cut 
were recovered after the cutting. The percentage of recoveries for males not 
affected by clear-cutting was 62.5 (5 of 8 ). This difference was not significant 
(P >0.05). 
Survival of adult females whose home ranges included one or both clear-cuts 
was higher (7 of 11 , 63.6 percent recovered) than that of females whose home 
ranges did not include a clear-cut (4 of 10, 40.0 percent recovered). Four of 
the seven females recovered after clear-cutting remained in their precut home 
ranges, the other three females shifted their home ranges away from a clear-cut. 
At Doanville, as at Truetown, survival of subadult squirrels was low whether 
or not their home ranges included a clear-cut. 
The 35-acre clear-cut (Truetown) was much more detrimental to squirrels than 
the clear-cuts of 9*5 and 19*5 acres. Survival of resident adult squirrels was 
not affected by the two smaller clear-cuts. 
Responses of Prairie Chickens to Habitat Manipulation R. l. Westemeier, 
D. R. Vance 
To date, 18 acquisitions totaling 1,561 acres (1,001 in Jasper County, 56 O 
in Marion County) are being managed for prairie chickens by the Natural History 
