In 2006, Brush Mountain Sportsmen’s Association (BMSA) president Rusty Lantz appointed John Steinbugl to chair a Habitat Committee.  The purpose of the committee is to recommend to the board of officers and the membership upon any activities which will impact the forested wildlife habitat of the Association.  Such activities could include timber harvests, timber stand improvements, wildlife habitat improvement projects, Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP permits), surveys of deer densities, surveys of deer impact upon available browse, and others initiatives.

The committee was formed partially in response to growing membership pressure to harvest timber.  BMSA property is comprised of over 600 acres of forestland, much of which contains marketable timber.  Most proposals to harvest timber at that time were made with no consideration for the condition of the habitat that would be left following a timber sale, the impact of the cutting upon deer and other wildlife densities, or the potential for the forest to regenerate trees that are both desirable to wildlife and potential sources of revenue for future generations of BMSA members.

The Habitat Committee immediately recognized a need to slow the push to harvest timber.   The first step would be to educate themselves and their fellow members about the principles of sustainable forest management.  To that end Committee members attended numerous property tours and seminars on forest management, wildlife management, and successful timber harvesting sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension, the Allegheny Mountain Woodland Association, Quality Deer Management Association, and The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Facility at Raystown Lake.  The Committee also invited foresters and Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife biologists to tour club grounds to make recommendations concerning forest and wildlife management.  The Pennsylvania Game Commission provided the BMSA with a Wildlife Habitat Management Recommendations report.

Several points became clear:
1.  Our forest is in poor condition from a standpoint of tree regeneration.  It is almost impossible to find a single oak seedling that has survived an entire growing season without being destroyed by deer browsing.  Further, other species that deer prefer to browse have also been eliminated from the understory.  These include blackberry and raspberry brambles, hickory, ash, aspen, dogwood, viburnum, serviceberry, and many others.  Worse, even trees that rank low on deer preference fail to survive.  We have a forest with no young trees.
2. The only things growing on the forest floor in any substantial numbers are ferns, various species of grasses, mountain laurel ericaceous plants (blueberry and huckleberry), and invasive plants such as Japanese barberry and tree of heaven.  None of these are browsed by deer except in cases of near starvation.
3. A timber harvest, conducted without addressing the issues of deer overpopulation and competing vegetation, would virtually guarantee that desirable trees would not grow to provide more wildlife food and cover and future timber.

The Habitat Committee erected several experimental deer exclosures to demonstrate this point.  [click here for photos]

In 2008, the Habitat Committee is poised to move forward with more habitat improvement projects and is in the process of developing a Forest Stewardship Plan with Appalachian Forestry Consultants.  That plan will divide our property into smaller management units and recommend a ten-year action plan to improve each unit.  Timber sale receipts will be used to cover the cost of projects and will be added to the Association’s general budget.