Exploding US Deer Numbers Will Drastically Alter Future Forests

[hatrack]

EDIT

"New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation estimates there are now 1 million deer living in the state. Nationally, the white-tailed deer population has increased from about 500,000 in the early 1900s to 25 to 30 million today, according to various researchers. In pre-European settlement times, deer population density was 10 to 15 deer per square mile. In the 19th century, numbers dwindled as land was cleared for agriculture and commercial hunting became widespread.

In the early 20th century, states limited hunting, preserved open space and imported the animals. Much of the land cleared for agriculture has since been converted back to wild land as farmers abandoned the business. Now, in places like southern New York and northern Pennsylvania, there are 30 to 35 deer per square mile, Curtis said. “In some ways we’ve been too successful at bringing the deer back,” Curtis said. While they still have some predators in the Northeast, mostly coyotes or bobcats, their main animal predators, wolves, are gone. Man is now a deer’s most feared predator, but the number of hunters is declining, especially among teenagers who today have more options to fill their time.

Today’s high deer population may shape how the country’s forests look decades from now. The animals are reducing the number of trees and seedlings and affecting which species will survive, forestry experts say. In the 14,000-acre Letchworth State Park in western New York, a 1,200-acre “safety area” for recreation where hunting is forbidden has seen vast damage from overbrowsing by deer.

“There are no saplings, no underbrush for ground nesting birds,” said Richard Parker, regional director of the Genesee State Park Region. “There will be no regeneration of the forest. In 40 to 50 years, as the current forest dies, there will be nothing to replace it.” The deer are “eating anything and everything that’s there,” he said. With voracious deer gobbling red oak, sugar maple and white ash seedlings, species like black birch and beech are gaining an edge. The loss of ground-level trees also removes habitat for several species of songbirds that need them for nesting. Michael Conover, a wildlife professor and director of the Jack Berryman Institute at Utah State University, estimates deer cause at least $750 million in damage to the United States timber industry annually.

Humans, too, face increased dangers. There were 1.5 million deer and vehicle crashes in 2003, injuring 13,713 people and causing $1.1 billion in vehicle damage, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released in November."

EDIT

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6835501/

[slackmaster]

1. Maybe I will take up deer hunting some day after all

It's the only sensible solution to the deer overpopulation problem, and they taste good too.

[Union Thug]

5. Raised by an avid hunter...

but having not personally taken part in a hunt since I was a teenager, there's part of me that says, hey slackmaster, I want to go along with you.

On the other hand, whenever I hear about populations of deer, bear, wolves, cougars etc. either too great for an area or 'infringing' upon human developments, I always ask myself what the hell are we doing destroying the ecosystems that once kept these populations in balance. I get really pissed when some suburban yuppie complains about the horrors of a cougar trespassing on 'their property' when only a year before that, it was wilderness.

I'm so conflicted.. oy. =)

[slackmaster]

13. I think of us the same was I think of other species

We've gotten exceptionally good at adapting to different environments.

If not for our opposable thumbs and overgrown cerebral cortexes, the world might be ruled by cats and dogs.

[Union Thug]

18. I agree, except..

I think that we have a great deal more responsibility for maintaining a healthy balance in our world than those animals without the mega-cortex capacities of sapiens! So far, I think we've failed to do this adequately.

[papau]

8. At least 40 pounds of good meat per kil! :-)

:-)

[villager]

2. our species has been too "successful" at eliminating predators

like wolves and bears. You see these deer articles and it's the same spin -- as if humans have suddenly ceded too much wilderness, and now look, all these deer!

Bring back grizzlies and gray wolves, I say...

[hatrack]

4. No wonder mountain lions are staging a comeback

With all that dinner trotting around, how could remnant populations not recover?

[villager]

10. well, true, a kind of silver lining...

...for surviving mountain lions, and maybe coyotes....

[freethought]

15. Certain predators won't recover because

there is too much human presence. Cougars, grizzly bears, wolves all need BIG ranges to support themselves. White Tail Deer are pretty dominant east of the Mississippi. Big unspoiled wilderness tracts don't really exist east of the Mississippi. Cougars and grizzly bears aren't really indigenous to this area anyway, these are animal that are more at home in the western part of the country.

The only natural predators to deer now are coyotes and bobcats and these animal are adaptable to human presence. Grizzlies, wolves, and cougars aren't and that's why we hear about them getting into some sort of trouble with people.

[villager]

20. well, I know. Implicit in that was a plea for more wilderness...

which won't happen, alas, with our species on its current consumptive tear...

[freethought]

12. There is a problem with that idea

The region of the country that the article speaks of is the Eastern U.S. Try as you might you will never get wolves or grizzly bears to reestablish in that part of the country. Wolves are too far a ranging animal as are grizzly bears and the Eastern U.S. is simply to populated with humans to support them.

Right now the chief predators of white-tailed deer are coyotes, black bears and bobcats. Domestic dogs do some damage and the elements do some as well. Still the balance is out of wack.

[Kolesar]

22. Northern Pennsylvania is pretty sparsely populated & good wolf country

If you ever look at one of those "US lights at night from space photos", you would know what I mean. There has been talk of introducing wolves there. I hope the locals could handle that without freaking out.

[NickB79]

25. The deer are not just doing damage in wilderness areas

Much of the damage occurs in suburban neighborhoods and rural farming communities, areas where reintroducing large predators is unfeasible for many reasons. Deer take quite well to suburban gardens, wooded backyards, parks, and farmer's fields and orchards.

I've always wondered why most people don't consider humans to be natural predators of whitetail deer, when humans have been hunting them in N. America for 25,000 years. We are the predators in these areas, we are simply not doing our jobs anymore of controlling the herds.

[On the Road]

3. I Must Have Seen 7 or 8 Deer Yesterday

on a soccer field in suburban Maryland, not far outside the beltway. It's become commonplace.

[MileHiStealth]

6. So the problem is ....

these Exploding Deer are actually knocking
down trees ? Or do they start forest fires too?
I bet that they're probably Al Quida Deer out
to destroy our natural resources so chimp's
forces can't harvest them. Who wants a bunch
of splintered wood anyway?

[hatrack]

9. Bucks of Destruction! Does of Terror! Fawns of Fear!

Glad you picked up the Al Qaeda connection with our exploding deer herds - I missed it at first! :hi:

[Nihil]

27. Glad I wasn't the only one who read it that way!

"Exploding US deer <pause> numbers will drastically alter future forests"

BTW, didn't you mean "Al Qui-Deer"? :hi:

[freethought]

7. An upset balance in Nature

There are also fewer hunters to cull the deer. In some places suburban development has cut off hunting access and even in places where it is feasable to hunt the areas are posted. On top of that fewer young people are replacing the older people who drop out of hunting because of age.

This is not a good situation any way you look at it, hunter or non-hunter.

[Dr.Phool]

11. mmmmm.... Venison steaks

[LiberalEsto]

14. Deer are a huge problem here in Maryland

There are far more deer here now than there were when Europeans first arrived.

They are starving because there is not enough edible plant material to support all of them. The deer population is unprecedented in our area's recorded history. It's not just suburban encroachment; it's because we have more deer per acre than ever before.

The deer are destroying farmers' crops in western Montgomery County to the point that some farmers are quitting because they can't make enough money to pay their bills.

Many people have given up gardening because the deer devour everything.

Driving is hazardous, especially in fall and winter, because the deer just run into roadways. When I used to drive my kids to high school swim practices at 5 a.m. on winter mornings, I was constantly dodging deer on slippery roads.

The population is high because there are no natural predators, and because of restrictions on hunting. I used to be anti-hunting, but now I believe the deer population needs to be reduced, if only to make sure the remaining animals can exist without starving one another in the competition for food.

[Union Thug]

17. I agree with your thoughts on hunting, although..

why do we always say that "deer" are the problem? Isn't it just as true to say that humans are the problem?

[ramapo]

16. They've become a "weed" species

The white-tailed deer has also adapted quite well to suburban living. Here in Northeastern NJ, deer have expanded into just about every small wooded area that you can find, even those relatively far-removed from the larger, contiguous streches of forest.

The only "natural" predator here is the automobile. There is a hunting season but that is not sufficient to control the population.

The deer are considered a nuisance in some areas and are blamed for the spread of ticks and Lyme disease. But they also make people feel good that there's still some wildlife around. And there's the mystical nice-Bambi feeling that the deer provide to us humans.

It's just another indication of the imbalances created in our environment by wide-ranging development and the resulting destruction of native species.

[Lorien]

33. Humanity-the ultimate "weed" species n/t

[ChemEng]

34. So, off yourself then....

[el_gato]

19. another manufactured crisis

what does this even mean:

"Michael Conover, a wildlife professor and director of the Jack Berryman Institute at Utah State University, estimates deer cause at least $750 million in damage to the United States timber industry annually."

Forests do not exist for the timber industry.

[NickB79]

24. A monetary value has to be placed on it in some form

To convey what damage the deer are actually doing to convey the message to most people. Such is a capitalist society, unfortunately. But even without the $70 million quote, that doesn't change the fact that the deer are doing massive amounts of damage to the forests of the US. True, forests do not exist for the timber industry. However, if deer destroy a forest that will never be cut for timber or used for recreation by humans, does that mean there is no crisis? No, it simply means that there is no crisis to human interests. There is still a massive crisis for the local ecosystem as their habitat is destroyed. My 25 acres of land on my parent's farm provides quite a bit of proof to that effect. I can't tell you how much work it is to ensure that just a few tree seedlings out of hundreds planted survive the first 5 yrs after planting without being eaten by deer.

[Viking12]

21. This is a major problem in WI

Between damaging forests, crops, cars, and ultimately threatening their own health (CWD) the deer overpopulation is a real problem here. I live in a semi-urban area of 200,000 and I see 5-15 deer everyday on my way to work. It is only a matter of time before I hit one.

Unfortunately, there is strong resistance to programs designed to stabilize populations. The DNR implemented an "Earn a Buck" program this past hunting season requiring that hunters harvest a doe before they could harvest a buck in order to reduce the breeders. A vocal opposition movement to the program is gaining traction and threatening to weaken/eliminate the requirement.

Here's an interesting article on the deer impact on native vegetation:

"Fifty years ago, researchers at the University of Wisconsin surveyed hundreds of acres in the state, and made careful records of the plants on those sites. In the last couple of years, two biologists went back to many of those same sites and counted the plants living there now.

Tom Rooney says at most sites they found fewer different kinds of plants.

"It tends to be the same species occurring over and again on the site," Rooney says. "You're losing the rare species, and picking up more and more common species."

Rooney says they tried to link the decline in rare species to the fact that the forest is getting older. But they found no evidence for that. Instead, lead researcher Don Waller says the evidence points to deer, which have increased dramatically in number over the last 50 years."

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/07/07_hemphills_deerprobs/

[amazona]

23. they destroy shrubs and understory

It is truly heart-breaking. A lot of shrubs and wild plants may never live long enough to reproduce again because they get eaten right up.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[RafterMan]

26. Maybe we should put one

in the White House.

[blindpig]

28. buried in deer

Don't know where to start; my dogs(normally cream puffs) killed 3 fawns inside our hog wire/3 strand fence last year, road killed are common. Actually saw a coyote chasing a big buck down my rural road 2 years ago, too weird, I suspect THAT might have been a mystical experience. They drive my dogs to distraction on a daily basis.
Sightings can be almost daily sometimes.

Not much to be done more inhabited areas other than the hunt but I think Appalachia and the Apalachicola could support some puma, they're pretty discrete, as much as I'd like to bring back wolves it is currently impossible.

[NickB79]

30. Careful about admitting your dogs are killing deer

Here in MN it is a $1000 dollar fine per deer killed by domestic dogs, even if they are killed on your property. I don't know what the laws are in your neck of the woods, though.

[blindpig]

31. this is the SOUTH my friend

I can do any damn thing I please on my property as long as I don't piss off the rich or offend christian sensibilities(such as they are). Now this sucks, I am a strong supporter of land use regulation, zoning, ESA, and it won't change until its too late.

I am NOT happy with my pups, I had to take the 3rd from them still bleating, neck broken. How the fawns got on my property is something of a mystery, 48" hog wire with 3 strands of barbed should do the trick. Adult deer can jump the fence, I suppose full term does thought my place was a maternity ward(the dogs are only allow out of their yard on to the whole property once a week for about 5-6 hours). They won't be running this fawn season, just have to suck it up. In any case these little murders didn't hurt the herd.

[seasat]

29. A problem with many hunters.

I hunt and love the taste of fresh venison. However, I hunt for the food. Many hunters I know, will not shoot a doe or smaller buck. They're waiting for the big trophy buck that they can hang on their wall. If more people hunted for the food, then you'd probably see a better control of the deer population.

[Lorien]

32. "Exploding worldwide human numbers will drastically

alter future forests"

Deer aren't the problem, people are. The deer's natural preditors have nearly been hunted to extinction. Bear, wolves, cougar-all need wide areas of territory to thrive. It's mankind, not deer, that's destroying the natural world.

[ChemEng]

35. The Atkins diet and deer, a match made in heaven!

[bearfan454]

36. I love deer meat.

That's why I hunt.