Wisconsin Young Forest Partnership Meeting Minutes 9:00am-2:30pm CDT

May 31, 2017

Location: Oneida Room, USFS Supervisor’s Office, 500 Hanson Lake Road, Rhinelander WI

Attendees: Jeremy Holtz (WDNR- wildlife), Andrew Hart (USDA-NRCS), Randee Wlodek (WYFP coordinator), Dan Eklund (USDA- CNNF), Chris Borden (USDA-NRCS), Bob Ellingson (WWF), Alan Johnson (Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council), Paul Koll (WTCAC-forestry), Matt St. Pierre (USFS), Anna Buckardt (U of Maine graduate student), Callie Bertsch (ABC), Shawn Graff (ABC), Scott Walter (RGS), Pete Anderson (Wisconsin Consulting Foresters, WCF), Eric Lobner (WDNR- wildlife management), Mike Zeckmeister (WDNR- wildlife management), Kent Van Horn (WDNR- wildlife), Janet Brehm (WDNR- wildlife), Mark Banker (WMI), Gary Zimmer (WCFA), Davin Lopez (WBCI-phone), Gary VanVreede (USFWS-phone)

9:00 am Additions to Agenda -None

9:05 am Introductions

9:15 am Steering Committee changes since last meeting --WI assoc. of consulting foresters joined meeting --Need replacement for Dale Zoug if WWOA wishes to remain involved --MOU – any recent additions- None

9:30 am ---executive committee position election, Jeremy’s term is up – Eklund

Jeremy re-elected for executive committee

10:00 am ---WYFP updates – Holtz

Jeremy invited by Tom Cooper to give talk at woodcock symposium- talk about woodcock;Anna talking about citizen science; Callie possibly talking too

Jeremy is president elect for TWS WI Chapter and will be going to National Conference

Wrote article to advertise for WYFP for TWS wildlife professional, but having difficultygetting it approved, going to keep trying

Points mentioned: Since we are MOU (not joint venture), the issue is that we can’t receive and hold money directly, we depend on partners to hold money; we are the group of the willing, time treasure and talent; RGS, WMI, MN, IN, MI looking to reference WYFP and start similar things; young forest initiative (YFI) exists separate from the partnership- north central YFI helped start our partnership; timberdoodle has our partnership on there for landscape perspective and DNR has YFI on their website; DNR realignment passed and we are ready to go- young forest is important to everyone; Scott says DNR Joint finance committee possibly increasing fee for licenses by $3 for gun,

deer, and archery licenses starting in 2018, RGS supported increase, $1 to young forest; fundraising committee can tack figuring out what to do with that increase of potential money onto their agenda

---Coordinator Report – Wlodek

• Website updates- meeting minutes on website, email me if you want foundation documents; Survey monkey updates- questions added and updated

• Mailings- we made a second contact mailing to landowners who fell through the cracks, had 393 letters sent out, 81 responses, 22% response rate with 26 bounced back letters; new mailing of 250 starting June 5th sent to Lincoln, Langlade, Marathon, and Sawyer; 250 each week so our DNR workgroup has ability to deal with calls for us

• We are a clearing house of information to give landowners direction to the different programs

(Include WYFP Website updates: www.youngforest.org/wi)

Points mentioned: DMAP overlaps with WYFP work and we do send people to DMAP if we believe it can help the landowner meet objectives; Andrew Hart says DMAP plans approved by NRCS and will be accepted for activities; MFL plans- can send right to NRCS and they can alter plans to make acceptable to get work done; Scott says cooperating foresters workshop in Sept. or Oct. in the Duluth-Superior area; There are wildlife management plans through NRCS but no one knows much about them or the difference between these types of plans and forest stewardship plans;

Pete Anderson mentions we need a hybrid DMAP, MFL, CAP, FSP or have WHISFERS have all those plans together, need some sort of database that can house data but have enough flexibility and creativity that it’s not just a template; Where is forestry at with private lands WHISFERS? Need to discuss with them on how to share resources, access, use ability; Kent Van Horn says wildlife needs to figure out as a collective what to discuss with forestry so as not to come at them at 2 different angles; 3rd party database will probably be in the future;

Points of needs: make sure WDNR forestry understands potential value in information sharing for partners to work efficiently (cooperating forester have access, but others don’t); need an official discussion with forestry about unengaged initiative and how the 2 outreach efforts (Driftless Forest Network and WYFP) are going to move forward together; Kent Van Horn- need to figure out common goal moving forest, figure out within wildlife and then work with forestry, will hear from them in a week about timeline of things

10:30 am ---Subcommittee Reports

-personnel – Holtz

Lost LTE, new LTE position posted

Workgroup: Callie, Nora, LTE, coordinator, Janet, Tom, Eric (field staff)

-outreach – S. WalterAnnual accomplishment report- how to show the added value from the partnership

Contact information should be added; who’s targeted-can be for field crew talking tolandowners and legislators; one pager would be a good idea for legislators; send out tomembers of our organizations to pass around; ABC/NRCS instead of just NRCS; point to

make is the cooperating foresters that we get involved; represent how we are referring landowners to all the different programs to tell our story; WFLGP added? Kristin could get numbers; add page numbers

Comments for changes should be sent to Scott Walter for consideration of inclusion andmodification of the Annual Accomplishment report.

-Woodcock (and YF?)-focused brochure—input regarding what would be the most usefulfocus/format

• Outreach committee will deal with it

-fundraising - Eklund

• Discussed with the partner updates

-monitoring/research – Anna (refer to page 6-8)• 2nd field season and final, USFWS Webless grant for AMWO work; use displaying woodcock

to see if management is working and create a citizen science monitoring program; breeding bird communities and GWWA migratory ecology; working with 21 landowners

• www.experiment.com/birds for project page

• Gary Zimmer- audio recording for landowners who can’t hear and then send recording out for someone to listen, similar to the SNAPSHOT program; Davin Lopez- there is equipment out there for donations?

11:30 am LUNCH ON SITE

12 pm ---Partner updates – each rep fills us in

• ABC-Callie Bertsch- funds through RCPP and NFWF; monitoring with Jeff Larkin, this year there are more WI private points; EQIP still has young forest acres coming in those areas that RCPP doesn’t cover; NFWF grant was used for a contractor meeting to get contractors on board; NFWF grant used for signs for school properties and wildlife areas; ABC presentation at WI consulting foresters meeting and WTCAC; NFWF money was used for cooperating forester to write 18 stewardship plans, ABC have $5k left; happy to do more site visits, will make their goal for acres; Shawn Graff- 2017/2018 new round of NWFW for MN, WI, MI and monitoring in WI through Jeff Larkin; GWWA recovery plan updating BMPs, work with Cornell for changes; $1600 for mailings, funding for 4 workshops (2 in MN and 2 in WI), $34,000 for restoration

• (refer to page 9-11) ABC has enough RCPP funding for approximately 90 contracts from FY18-20. They have spent upwards of $500,000 on contracts so far and directly affected over$1300 acres. There is funding in general equip as well.

• NRCS- Chris Borden- could use ideas about how to measure impacted acres direct vs. influenced; there is many more conservation practices out there besides the ESH and forest improvement; Andrew Hart- local workgroups in certain areas of the state for people to meet and discuss with NRCS about what they’d like to see happen and that helps get more money for those activities; funding now for woody residue treatment for salvage cuts for storm related damage, won’t need a plan; regular sign ups and contact local DC

o Anna asked about incentives for landowners for monitoring from ABC/NRCS

• RGS- Scott- in partnership with DNR and NRCS, hired Valerie Johnson working out of USDAoffice in Spooner as the habitat biologist specialist, helped fill the gap in the area (notlimited by counties); Potential 2nd position in Northeast, maybe even 3rd position; forest andwildlife partnership promotes active forest management for public to shift negativity thatcutting is bad; $25k for USFWS Partners funding for young forest work on private land andcounty land

• USFWS- Gary Vanvreede-5 projects last year, but haven’t used much of that money fromRGS

• USFS- Dan- 18 acres alder last winter, new equipment, $10k with DNR for LTE support sototal of $40k given; FS gave DNR forestry a Good Neighbor Authority retain receipts task list,where coordinator and young forest work are on top of list, they still have receipts to usefrom GNA sales after administrative payback; aspen age class review, most falls 0-10 andjust over 50% is 0-20; woodcock and GWWA surveys done and Dan has results if people areinterested, numbers did increase

• WMI- Mark Banker- $20k set aside for coordinator and need to figure out the rest; FWSoffered to pay for woodcock and GWWA BMPs (with GWWA work with ABC and Cornell);Charles Fergus will try to come next fall to get new photos etc.; WMI accomplishmentupdates, send to Mark

• DNR- Janet Brehm- contractor workshop went so well we may need a forester workshop;training new biologist; working on 2015 mailing list, did the 5 projects with FWS this winter;

• WCFA- Gary Zimmer- counties are focused on young forest; quite a few windstorms andtornadoes created some young forest; illegal harvesting of young birch has been an issue;promoting grouse and woodcock hunting- interactive map from RGS to put on website toshow sites on the county forest and promoting county forest for recreation throughadvertisements;

• WWF- Bob Ellingson- get accomplishment report in their paper; funds for citizen science wastalked about at last meeting

---Proposal submission updates not covered by partner updates

1:30 pm ---Partnership needs, partner needs & opportunities for involvement; future steps, plans for expansion/subsistence; big picture discussion Set next meeting (conference call in summer, then in-person meeting in fall)

2:30 pm Adjourn

Wisconsin Young Forest Partnership Leadership Executive Committee Members: Jeremy Holtz, Facilitator Dan Eklund Scott Walter Steering Committee Members (and alternates): USFS: Dan Eklund and Matthew St. Pierre NRCS: Chris Borden and Michael Stinebrink USFWS: Kurt Waterstradt and Gary VanVreede WDNR Wildlife: Kent Van Horn, Mark Witecha (and Jeremy Holtz) WDNR Forestry: Kristin Lambert and (Darcy or Brian?) WCFA: Eric Holm and Gary Zimmer ABC: Callie Bertsch and Shawn Graff RGS: Scott Walter WMI: Mark Baker Forestland Group: Shawn Hagan WBCI: Michael John Jaeger, Davin Lopez WWF: Bob Ellingson, George Meyer WWOA: vacant SAF: Tom Hittle new members always welcome Subcommittee Members: Personnel/workgroup: Jeremy Holtz, Chair Randee Wlodek LTE (vacant) Dan Eklund Callie Bertsch Nora Kennedy Janet Brehm Fundraising: Dan Eklund, Chair Jeremy Holtz Outreach: Scott Walter, Chair Jamie Nack Chuck Fergus (website) Callie Bertsch Gary Zimmer Monitoring: (if?) Amber Roth Anna Buckardt Randee Wlodek LTE (vacant)

UMaine Research Update

WYFP Steering Committee Meeting May 31st 2017

REMINDER OF STUDY OBJECTIVES

USFW Webless Grant:

- Research Objective 1 (Years 1-2): Evaluate young forest best management practices as indicated by

woodcock usage and displaying male density during the spring breeding season.

- Research Objective 2 (Year 2): Identify an American Woodcock monitoring protocol that is easily

conducted by private landowners based on counting displaying males in spring.

Small Grants and Crowdfunding:

-Research Objective 3 (Years 1-2): Identify the community of bird species using 0-6-year-old young forest

management areas on private lands in Wisconsin and understand the relationship to forest type and

treatment.

-Research Objective 4 (Years 1-2): Understand the broad-scale habitat use (stopover and winter habitat)

and migratory path of male Golden-winged Warblers breeding in Oneida County, Wisconsin.

2017 PROGRESS TO DATE

Research Objective 1:

American Woodcock (AMWO) singing ground surveys were conducted to understand habitat use by

AMWO on private non-industrial forest lands with and without young forest management. Woodcock

singing ground surveys will serve as a proxy for the success of the Golden-winged Warbler habitat

management for American Woodcock, both early successional obligate species.

Below are summary data from the 2017 American Woodcock singing ground surveys. Pre-harvest and

Pre-study harvest sites were on private non-industrial forest lands and control sites were on public lands

and paired with pre-harvest sites. Of the 12 pre-harvest study sites in 2016, only 5 sites were harvested

this past winter.

Table 1: The breakdown of sites and points for American Woodcock singing ground surveys in 2017.

Treatment Type Number of Survey

Sites Number of Survey

Points

Control (mature aspen or alder) 12 17

Pre-harvest (still unharvested) 7 8

Pre-harvest (harvested winter 2016) 5 9

Pre-study Harvest (0-5 years post-harvest) 12 14

Total 36 48

Table 2: Site-level AMWO singing ground survey results 2017.

Treatment Type

% of sites occupied by

AMWO

Average number of AMWO

detected per site

Greatest number of

AMWO per site

Control (mature aspen or alder) 33% 0.7 4

Pre-harvest (still unharvested) 57%* 1.1 3

Pre-harvest (managed winter 2016) 80% 3.4 10

Pre-study Harvest (0-5 years post-harvest) 100% 1.9 3

*The majority of sites contributing to this value are alder habitat, not mature aspen stands.

Table 3: Site-level AMWO singing ground survey results for 2017 arranged by forest type/treatment

categories.

Treatment Type % of sites occupied

by AMWO Average number of

AMWO detected per site Greatest number of AMWO per site

Mature Alder (n=5) 100% 1.8 4

Sheared Alder (n=5) 100% 1.8 2

Mature Aspen (n=14) 21% 0.4 3

Harvested Aspen (n=12) 86% 2.5 10

Research Objective 2:

This field season we worked on developing a citizen-science-based woodcock monitoring program called

Wisconsin Woodcock Watch. The intent of this program is to have landowners with young forest

management on their properties act as citizen science monitors and conduct American Woodcock

singing ground surveys in their management areas. The data collect by landowners will be sent to WYFP

for use in evaluating the partnership’s management efforts and as valuable feedback for their adaptive

young forest management strategy. 20 private landowners were invited to participate in side-by-side

woodcock monitoring with researchers as a way to gather feedback on the monitoring protocol and

other materials developed and to determine the accuracy of landowner collected woodcock data. After

these independent but simultaneous woodcock surveys, participants were asked several questions

about their monitoring experience and then researchers provided in-person training for the landowners.

Fifteen individuals participated in this side-by-side survey and interview. These participants gave

important feedback on how to update Wisconsin Woodcock Watch Materials and how to improve the

monitoring program going forward.

Important Findings from side-by-side surveys and interviews:

• Landowners are generally excited and enthusiastic about monitoring woodcock on their

properties and happy to participate in Wisconsin Woodcock Watch in the future

• Landowners were able to understand the singing-ground-survey monitoring protocol and data

sheet fairly well

• Some landowners struggled with identifying a peenting woodcock (confusion with other birds or

just not confident in what to listen for)

• Many landowners with young forest management are retired and many lack the physical ability

to hear peenting woodcock, especially from greater than 20 meters away

Overall Citizen Science Monitoring Conclusions:

From my experience piloting Wisconsin Woodcock Watch this spring, I believe that it has potential as a

fun and scientifically valuable monitoring program. I learned that simply reading a protocol and listening

to woodcock peent call recordings is not enough training for landowners to produce confident and

accurate woodcock monitoring results. I suggest that training workshops be held for new Wisconsin

Woodcock Watch monitors to make sure they 1. Properly follow protocol, 2. Accurately identify

woodcock peent calls, and 3. Have the physical hearing ability required to conduct the survey.

Research Objective 3:

Point counts are underway at all study sites and will be used to look

at bird community structure as it relates to forest type, treatment,

and Golden-winged Warbler best management practices metrics.

Research Objective 4:

In 2016 28 light-level geolocators were deployed on male Golden-

winged Warblers in Oneida County to track their migration. An additional 21 control birds were color

banded and used as control birds. To date, we have recovered 5 geolocators and have relocated 5

control birds. In addition, we have deployed 2 (of 11) new geolocators on birds that carried geos last

year to try to understand annual differences in migration and wintering at the level of the individual. At

this time, we have yet to analyzed the geolocator data and do not know where they spent the winter.

Landowners participating in woodcock monitoring in

May 2017. Photo Credit: Anna Buckardt

A Golden-winged Warbler and it’s recovered

geolocator. Photo Credit: Chris Roelandt

RCPP – ABC Report Callie Bertsch – Forest Habitat Coordinator

May 31, 2017

• In 2017 ABC hosted a training for contractors (as well as other resource

professionals and school groups in attendance) in conjunction with the WI DNR at Ackley Wildlife Area. Over 50 people in attendance. (Nora Kennedy from ABC, Eric Borchardt and Tom Carlson from WI DNR organized. Randee Wlodek and Scott Walter gave presentations.)

• Nora and Callie presented at the Wisconsin Consulting Foresters Conference on an update regarding Young Forest Initiative. Over 40 people in the audience.

• Nora had a booth at the Oneida County Sustainability Fair. • Callie presented at the May WTCAC meeting regarding Young Forest and our

goals. • Average contracts are $5,400. There is potential for 90 more contracts at this

rate. • Jeff Larkin’s monitoring crew has completed AMWO surveys and are about to

start GWWA/songbird.

2017 Applications County Approved/Pre-Approved Pending Burnett 1 Douglas 1 Langlade 1 Lincoln 3 Marinette 1 Oneida 3 Price 4 Rusk 15 Sawyer 2 Taylor 3 8 Total 4 38

RCPP-2017 County Contracts 647 Acres 666 Acres Other Acres Ashland 1 6 Bayfield 1 3.8 Florence 1 30.3 Langlade 2 17 Marinette 1 28.3 Price 2 33 25 Rusk 7 128.5 Total 15 246.9 25

RCPP-2016 County Contracts 647 Acres 666 Acres Other Acres Certified Acres Forest 1 25.9 Iron 1 4.1 4.1 Langlade 3 20.2 15 15 Lincoln 1 14.5 8 Marinette 2 7.1 Oneida 5 18.5 19 5 32.5 Price 10 108.9 23 32.7 Rusk 25 260.5 16 Sawyer 1 10 Taylor 12 161.5 68 9.9 73.5 Vilas 2 14 38.2 52.2 Washburn 2 26.2 26.2 Total 65 631.5 116 102 260.2

RCPP-2015 County Contracts 647 Acres 666 Acres Other Acres Certified Acres Forest 1 1.5 1.5 Langlade 1 8 Oneida 3 6 67 73 Price 6 61.6 21.6 Rusk 5 34.1 6 29.3 Taylor 3 54.1 42.8 Total 19 165.3 67 6 168.2