What can I plant on my property to help feed Grouse?

I have 100 acres in Bancroft and I would like to plant some trees/bushes to help out the grouse. I have a lot of hardwood with a few openings and a couple of swamps with cedars. I was thinking of apple/crab trees, hawthorns, and some wild berry vines. Does anyone have any ideas for this area of central Ontario? Thanks.

That's pretty much what they eat

They like yellow birch and ironwood buds as well.

Hawthorn, black and raspberry, and tag alder would be my first picks. You may already have the tag alders in the swampy areas. Where abouts in the Bancroft area are you?

Quaking Aspen are a great source of food for Grouse and other wildlife. Blackberries, etc as others have stated.

This is a good publication on habitat.
Contact the individual below to order it.

Managing your Forest for Ruffed Grouse
An information pamphlet published by The Ruffed Grouse Society that gives an overview of the habitat types that best suit this forest dweller. This publication starts with an outline of grouse range and delves into promoting aspen forest growth for ruffed grouse. Information a staged forest with aspen of different age groups is presented.


John Lockerbie
Canadian Coordinator
Phone: (506) 451-8996
Fax: (506) 460-8889
Mailing Address
133 Burpee Street
Fredericton, New Brunswick
E3A 1M6

Clover is also a good option!

Anything that will thicken up the understory with young growth will help them stick around.

First thing you should plant are "No Trespassing signs". Next I would select what the prime feed is in your local area. Birds will be drawn to what is successful in your area first.

My understanding, hope half your hardwood forest burns down, or gets a tornado through it, or harvest a bunch of trees to create huge swaths of open areas. My understanding is, five years later you will have great under growth, lots of young aspens, poplar, etc, creating great covets for the birds to make their home. Areas logged up North, five to seven years earlier, tend to hold a ton of grouse, as do the logging roads going through them.

My understanding is that there is nothing worse for grouse habitat then a mature forest, with little or no undergrowth(?)

D.