Welcome to Woodcock Minnesota
Woodcock Minnesota is a non-profit, volunteer run organization dedicated to funding specific research that benefits the American woodcock in our state. Woodcock Minnesota is comprised of woodcock hunters and woodcock watchers who want to improve the plight of our favorite bird, which also benefits numerous other species that depend on early succession forest habitat.
Woodcock Conservation Plan
The American woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a popular game bird throughout eastern North America and is managed on the basis of two populations: eastern and central. Both populations have experienced significant declines since surveys were first implemented in the mid-1960s. Loss and degradation of early succession forest habitat is believed to be the primary factor responsible for these declines. Changes in land use and societal attitudes towards even-aged forest-management practices (i.e. clearcutting) that create early succession habitat will likely contribute to continued declines in woodcock populations. The American Woodcock Conservation Plan documents changes in woodcock densities and habitat that occurred from the early 1970s to present. Population density deficits were calculated and specific habitat acreage goals for erasing such deficits were developed.
There has been a loss of over 839,000 singing male woodcock since the early 1970s. This corresponds to a population-density deficit of just over 778,000 males. Approximately 21.3 million acres (8.6 million) of new woodcock habitat needs to be created in order to eliminate this deficit and return woodcock densities to those observed during the early 1970s.
Read the entire Woodcock Conservation Plan
Greak Lakes Woodcock Initiative
Woodcock are declining as young forest and shrub land habitats decline. American Woodcock populations have declined 2 to 4 percent per year since the early 1970s. Research has documented that the loss of young forest and shrub land habitats is the primary cause of the decline.
Read the entire Upper Great Lakes Woodcock Initiative
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