Trying to save sharp-tailed grouse with saws, shears

brush clearing for sharp-tailed grouse — Sedonia Vaughn, a member of the Rush City, Minnesota, high school trap team, volunteered to remove brush at the Firebird Wildlife Management Area near Kettle River in Carlton County on April 22, part of a group of two-dozen people working to create better sharp-tailed grouse habitat.

By John Myers

April 29, 2023 at 7:00 AM

KETTLE RIVER, Minn. 鈥� This should be the time of year when sharp-tailed grouse do their dancing, the territorial mating ritual when males square off to bluff fight and females gather to watch.

To the winners of this chest-puffing, wing-spreading display of hormones goes the right to court, mate and pass on their progeny.

But that鈥檚 not happening at the Firebird Wildlife Management Area in northwestern Carlton County anymore because the sharptails are all gone, echoing a problem across the region.

A male sharp-tailed grouse performs a courtship dance at a lek, or dancing ground. The number of leks, and sharptails, has declined dramatically in recent years in the bird's former range in east-central Minnesota. Once common in Carlton, Pine and parts of St. Louis counties, the birds are vanishing due to a decline in open habitat. Similar declines have occurred in parts of Northwestern Wisconsin.

鈥淭his should be a good spot. There have traditionally always been leks (dancing grounds) on this site, and several more within a couple miles around here. But not anymore,鈥� said Chris Balzer, area wildlife manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 鈥淭he numbers just kept going down until there weren鈥檛 any left.鈥�

There are so many people building out in the country now. Everybody wants their acre or 10 acres or 40 acres of land to put their house or cabin on. Most of what鈥檚 happening to this landscape now is non-compatible with sharptail habitat.

Dave Pauly, president and charter member of the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society

But on a cold and windy Earth Day last week, two dozen volunteers showed up at the Firebird area to try and keep the habitat suitable for sharptails, hoping the birds will come back. They wore rubber boots and used saws and axes and lopping shears to beat back the trees and brush creeping out into the open fields. They included members of the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society, wildlife management students from Vermilion Community College in Ely, members of the Rush City High 歪歪漫画 trap shooting team and more.

鈥淵ou have to try. It鈥檚 worth the effort,鈥� said Hayley Darke, a Vermilion Community College student.

Darke was busy with lopping shears cutting small aspen or popple trees that had sprouted since the last effort here. The Firebird area 鈥� 726 acres, parts of three former farms 鈥� was purchased by the DNR a few years ago with conservation money from the state鈥檚 legacy sales tax and help from several conservation groups. Since then, several habitat projects have been conducted, with more on the way, to mechanically remove brush by mowing and chopping and by lighting intentional fires, called controlled burns, used to make room for native wildflowers that were planted.

clearing brush — Members of the Rush City High 歪歪漫画 trap team volunteered to cut brush at the Firebrid Wildlife Management Area near Kettle River in an effort to clear the land for sharp-tailed grouse.

鈥淵ou have to keep at it or the forest reclaims it,鈥� said Marshall Deters, a member of the sharptail association who coordinated the Saturday work day. 鈥淭his is a continual process.鈥�

Deters noted that all of the volunteer鈥檚 hours of work and travel count as matching funds to help secure state grants.

A slow slide to zero

The decline of sharptails in east-central Minnesota was gradual for decades, but, for some reason, sped up over the past 10 years, so much so that the DNR canceled the sharptail hunting season here in 2021. It鈥檚 not likely to ever return.

In the past, DNR surveys regularly spotted six to 12 males dancing at this site each spring, with a recent peak of 15 males in 2011. But by 2020, that number had dropped to four. In 2021, there was just one, lonely male. In 2022, there were none, and they haven鈥檛 returned so far this spring.

Firebird Wildlife Management Area covers more than 720 acres in northwestern Carlton County intended for sharp-tailed grouse habitat. Once common in the area, there have been no sharptails confirmed here since 2021.

It鈥檚 pretty much the same story at many former sharptail hotspots across eastern Minnesota, from Chisago, Pine and Kanabec counties in the south through Carlton, Aitkin, St. Louis and even Koochiching counties in the north, sharptails are disappearing. Only in northwestern counties are the birds holding their own in Minnesota.

鈥淟ately it鈥檚 just been bad news in the east-central area,鈥� said Dave Pauly, retired DNR wildlife manager and president and charter member of the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society that formed 36 years ago. Perhaps no one has worked harder than Pauly to bring the birds back.

Pauly noted that intensive efforts to restore habitat are helping in some areas, Like Minnesota's St. Croix State Park and Wisconsin's Namekagon Barrens. But across much of the Northland the story is the same: fewer sharptails than ever before.

If you clear it, they will come

The reasons behind the decline are many, but most center around habitat. Sharptails historically depended on wildfires to open up forested land and create their favored, wide-open habitat 鈥� so much so that the Indigenous people here called them the "firebird."

The massive amount of logging and huge fires of the late 1800s and early 1900s created perfect sharptail habitat. Early European settlers described sharptails flying in such large numbers that they sometimes blocked out the sun.

Marshall Deters of the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society cuts small trees at the Firebird Wildlife Management Area.

But as the forest grew back, and as wildfires became far less frequent, sharptail habitat declined. For most of the 20th century, many small farms 鈥� with open grazing land and hay fields 鈥� provided a decent substitute. But as many former farm fields are now transformed into recreational or residential properties, fewer large open areas exist.

People who buy land generally want trees, not fields, Pauly noted, adding to the problem. People also bring pets, including roaming cats, which kill sharptails. Other predators include hawks and small mammals like skunks and raccoons that raid nests. Having lots of people around, and vehicle traffic, doesn鈥檛 help.

鈥淭here are so many people building out in the country now. Everybody wants their acre or 10 acres or 40 acres of land to put their house or cabin on,鈥� Pauly noted. 鈥淢ost of what鈥檚 happening to this landscape now is non-compatible with sharptail habitat.鈥�

Part of the problem is the sheer size of open land that sharptails favor. Firebird looks like a big, open area to the untrained eye. But 700 acres still isn鈥檛 big enough for these birds.

鈥淪ome research suggests that sharp-tailed grouse need 30,000-acre complexes of open habitat to maintain their populations over time,鈥� Balzer said.

Chris Balzer — Chis Balzer, area wildlife manager for the Minnesota DNR, helps remove trees and brush.

Trying to keep that much nearly contiguous land open in the Northland is getting much more difficult. Wildfires are usually snuffed before they get anywhere near that size. And the appetite for controlled fires is limited. Climate change, with increased flooding, also is keeping the land too wet for the birds, at least between droughts.

Still, Pauly and Balzer both remain hopeful, and thankful for volunteers willing to put in the effort and for Minnesota taxpayers willing to foot the bill to buy and preserve habitat.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just grouse but all sorts of insects and birds and mammals and herps (amphibians like salamanders) that benefit from this work,鈥� Pauly noted.

If there are a few sharptails left around, the biologists say, they will find the best places to live.

鈥淪harp-tailed grouse are very mobile and adapted to finding new areas with suitable habitat, such as after large wildfires,鈥� Balzer added. 鈥淚f the habitat is good enough to support birds, they should be able to find it.鈥�