Berks County Game Commission crew honored for its habitat restoration near Blue Marsh
Mar. 1—The Pennsylvania Game Commission has selected its Berks County Habitat Management Crew to receive the John M. Phillips Habitat Management Award for Excellence for its work in the state game lands near Blue Marsh Lake.
The area, known as State Game Lands 280, is made up of 2,552 acres. Thousands of acres there have been converted from row crop agricultural lands to native grasslands, which are beneficial to a variety of game and nongame species. The crew also took up managing land around the lake, which is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Recent plantings include sunflower and millet to encourage mourning doves. Since the area is adjacent to Blue Marsh, it also sees recreational activity.
The rolling hills are interspersed with large herbaceous openings, fields and woodlots and small drainage areas. The main game species here are deer, squirrels, rabbits, mourning doves and waterfowl, according to a game commission map,
"Quality habitat is the key to effectively managing our Commonwealth's wildlife resources, and the Berks County Habitat Management Crew went above and beyond to implement the native grassland conversion at SGL 280. They are very deserving of this recognition," said Region Director Bruce Metz.
The Corps property and 280 game lands create a combined 7,000-plus acres. Prior to 2019, only 168 acres were available for management because the rest was being farmed.
The game commission said a new direction in habitat management began in 2019 when sharecrop contracts were renegotiated resulting in a return of 400 sharecropped acres and 925 Conservation Reserve Program acres. The Conservation Reserve Program is the country's largest private-land conservation program and administered by the Farm Service Agency.
A second year return added an additional 500 acres.
The crew started with habitat improvements. Much of the Conservation Reserve Program land had become overgrown with invasive species rendering it unproductive for wildlife.
Acting on concerns from hunters and fur-takers that the areas had become inaccessible, the crew set into clearing the invasive species and overgrowth. Crew members Jason Smith, Robert Noecker and Robert Edris were responsible for much of the clearing, as well as the mowing the area as needed.
They also prepared hundreds of acres for conversion to warm-season grass and pollinator mixes. Some of the land presented challenges due to the spray programs used by farmers, officials said.
Foreman Mark Weiss and the crewmembers strategized a spray program that would best suit the needs of the various field locations.
Some hunters mentioned this was the best dove hunting they have ever encountered, Berks and Schuylkill counties Land Manager David Brockmeier wrote in nominating the crew for the award. Pheasant hunting is also popular at Blue Marsh and the crew is responsible for stocking nearly 7,000 pheasants annually.
The crew has been using techniques that help provide varied habitats consisting of warm and cool season grasses, pollinator mixes, dove complexes and shrublands.
"Due to the popularity of small game hunting, we were able to identify strategic locations to optimize dove hunting opportunities," Brockmeier wrote about the project. "All crewmembers played a role in preparing these locations. The crew was able to provide 65 acres of managed dove complexes in three different locations. The mulching head on the CAT machine was used to manipulate the sunflowers and provided exceptional results that were relayed to Harrisburg."
