Along the eastern face of the Beartooth Mountains a cooperative aspen regeneration project has boosted the trees’ growth on about 750 acres. That’s important in an area where pine trees had been crowding out aspen. Aspen provide great habitat for ruffed grouse. The better the aspen stands, the better the grouse population. The trees also are habitat for song birds, elk, moose and deer. Pine forests, on the other hand, tend to be ecologically pretty barren for wildlife. Unfortunately the regeneration project, which has taken place over 24 years, is now running out of money from its partners, the Custer National Forest. So, new partners are needed to help fund continued work.
Find out more about the work by logging on to: http://bgz.tt/je9fa
(Written by Brett French – Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette)
