ISSUE:

I really love to hunt and fish, but doesn’t timber harvesting destroy our wildlife populations?

FACTS:

Timber harvesting is an important tool for the creation of diverse wildlife habitat, which increases wildlife populations.

West Virginia is home to an abundance of wildlife. In fact, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources reports that current wildlife populations are at an all time high for game, non-game and fish species.

Before the mid-1900s, deer harvests in West Virginia never surpassed 1,000 animals. Today, hunters enjoy some of the best deer hunting success in the nation with an annual harvest of approximately 250,000.

According to the West Virginia Division of Forestry, the majority of West Virginia timber harvests are partial harvests less than 200 acres in size. The variety of ages and sizes of trees in the forested areas, along with open areas such as hayfields, pastures, lakes and ponds, creates a diverse landscape that provides habitat for all types of wildlife species.

West Virginia’s forest lands provide more than 400 native brook trout streams. In addition, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources stocks nearly 200 waters (all dependent on forests) with various species of trout each year.

Timber harvesting creates openings that allow grasses, berries, new tree seedlings and other early successional plants to grow, creating a condition that is critical to the habitat of turkey, grouse, rabbit, and many other wildlife species.

The return of the wild turkey is one of the great wildlife management success stories in West Virginia. Today, through scientific wildlife management and proper timber management, wild turkeys are found in abundance statewide, with wildlife biologists estimating their numbers to exceed 150,000 birds.

West Virginia’s diverse forest land provides some of the best habitat in the eastern U.S. for neotropical migratory song birds.

The Wildlife Resources Section of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources conducts fish and wildlife management activities on nearly 500,000 acres of Wildlife Management Areas and State Forests; 1.2 million acres of National Forest lands; 21,000 acres of public impoundments and 100,000 acres of fishable streams and rivers.