In response to the alarming drop in woodcock numbers over the last 20 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the North American Woodcock Management Plan in 1990. The Plan aims to coordinate federal, state, and private efforts to stabilize woodcock populations through land acquisition, habitat improvement, landowner education, and research.

Biologists believe habitat degradation in the northeastern breeding grounds is a leading cause of the bird's decline. For years, abandoned farmsteads in the Northeast provided the open areas and second growth woodcock need; a boom in numbers followed. Now those coverts are maturing into hardwood timbers unsuitable for woodcock, and populations are suffering. Meanwhile, little is known about the requirements of woodcock on their wintering grounds, more and more of which are being converted from bottomland timber to agriculture.

Sportsmen can help the Woodcock Plan meet its goals. "If you live in the South," says Ashley Straw, US Fish and Wildlife Service Woodcock Specialist "we need you in the wing survey. If you live in the North, read our book."

Hunters participating in the wing survey send wings from birds they kill to FWS biologists. The resulting data provides important clues about brood success and hunting mortality. As managers try to gain a clearer understanding of woodcock on the wintering grounds, wing survey data provided by hunters in those areas becomes vital. At this time, however, only a very few hunters outside the Northeast and upper Midwest participate in the wing survey.

The book Straw refers to is A Landowner's Guide to Woodcock Habitat Management in the Northeast. This free publication shows landowners how to manage their property by using selective timber harvests to insure that a wide range of age classes of trees exists in their woodlots. "Sustained yield practices will help us break out of the boom and bust cycle we're caught in now," says Straw. Because much of the best woodcock habitat in the Northeast is privately owned, Straw believes the cooperation of private landowners is critical.

For more information on the wing survey and the Landowner's Guide, write to: Ashley Straw, Woodcock Specialist, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, MD 20708.