The decline in young forest is the result of changing management objectives and techniques, changing attitudes of landowners, a decline in farm abandonment, increased fire suppression, and increased urbanization (Brooks and Birch 1988; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1996). Thus, most changes in the timberland resources of this region have resulted from changes in forest structure and not from gains or losses in acreage. Most woodcock habitat in the Northeast is privately owned; timber companies control the next largest portion of this resource, and state and federal agencies control the smallest portion (U.S. Department of the Interior 1990). State and federal governments and private agencies need to determine ways to stimulate creation of woodcock habitat on private lands.

To increase the woodcock population, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has developed an American Woodcock Management Plan (U.S. Department of the Interior 1990). In the Northeast, the management goal (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1996) is to restore woodcock populations to 1985 levels by the year 2005. Conservation and management of woodcock habitat are critical to achieving these population objectives. Habitat management that promotes early successional forest types increases local breeding populations of woodcock and other wildlife. Crucial to this effort is encouraging commercial timber companies to incorporate woodcock habitat management into their timber-management activities and to inform private landowners of potential habitat-management opportunities on their lands. In addition, identification and management of woodcock wintering habitat are also necessary. Most importantly, cooperation in habitat management among state, federal and nongovernment organizations, and private citizens will be necessary to reverse the downward trends of the woodcock population.

Although available data do not indicate that hunting has played a major role in woodcock population declines, proper management requires that we understand the relationship among hunting regulations, harvest, and woodcock populations, especially at the local level (Straw et al. 1994). Implementation of the Harvest Information Program will be the first step in determining this relationship. Research into the effects of hunting on local and regional populations is also necessary, but few studies are under way on woodcock in the Northeast. Likewise, research is needed to address the potential effects of new pesticides on woodcock, their habitat, and earthworms; such research has not been done for 15 years

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