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 Pictured is our speaker, Put Blodgett, president of the Vermont Woodlands Association.
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VT Woodlands Association Talk Wrapup29.Jun.2010 Sunday evening, Vermont Woodlands Association president Put Blodgett came to the Outdoor Center to discuss wildlife and woodlands management. A small but interested audience gathered in the yurt to join the discussion. Blodgett pointed out that most wildlife species need a diversity of habitat types throughout their life cycles, including early successional forest, so cutting areas of your woodland instead of leaving mature, closed-canopy forest as the only habitat type actually benefits wildlife. Black bears, for instance, like to forage on raspberries and blackberries, which can't grow in a shady, closed-canopy forest. Other issues that Blodgett touched on were the negative effects of habitat fragmentation on species with large range sizes, and the way that deer overpopulation - a larger problem farther south - decimates early growth in regenerating forests. Blodgett's take-home message was that landowners should work with a consulting forester to develop a forest management plan, which can both help them achieve their goals for a forest - like creating better wildlife habitat - and earn a little money from the renewable resources on their property. |