Deer Overpopulation

Although Leopold’s love of great expanses of wilderness is readily apparent, his book does not cry out in defense of particular tracts of land about to go under the axe or plow, but rather deals with the minutiae, the details, of often unnoticed plants and animals, all the little things that, in our ignorance, we have left out of our managed acreages but which must be present to add up to balanced ecosystems and a sense of quality and wholeness in the landscape.

: CORRECT Agricultural practices improve wildlife habitats and lead to increased species populations in farming communities.

Emerald Ash Borers has killed millions of ash tree and put billions more at risk. Emerald Ash Borers originated in Asia and eastern Russia was first discovered in Canada in 2002. It is now widespread in Quebec and Ontario areas. Emerald Ash Borers can be spread to various parts of Canada and USA through infested firewood trading. Therefore the government of Canada has decided to restrict infested areas. Emerald Ash Borer arrived to Canada through trading forestry products. If we had been more careful, Emerald Ash Borers would have never entered Canada. Therefore our interaction in cutting down trees to trade and trading with others has an important effect on the welfare of our forests. The interaction of receiving wood from outside our country

Through strictly regulated hunting we have reintroduced and repopulated various game species into areas where they were previously wiped out due to extremely excessive hunting by settlers. In the early 1900s all of Indiana’s whitetail deer were virtually extinct. By the 1930s whitetail deer were beginning to be reintroduced into Indiana. In just 20 years after initial reintroduction the population was at a sustainable level so that regulated modern hunting programs could begin. Conservationism has been a necessity to the ecology of the United States and many other countries around the world. The U.S. Forest Service by itself manages 193 million acres of public land nationwide or roughly 8% of the total land in the United States. The management of this land would not be feasible without the funding hunters provide through licenses, tags, and stamps. The 193 million acres does not include any public recreational land on the state level. There is 2,260,380 acres of public hunting land in all the states

“In the early twentieth century, there were approximately 500,000 white-tailed deer inhabiting the United States.”(Swihart) “Since then, several studies have been conducted proving that there are problems with deer overpopulation. Research has displayed that there are three prominent units that the causes come from; human overpopulation, elimination of their natural predators , along with lack of hunting to control the population.”(Lane) Human overpopulation has affected the deer population due to the fact that as the human population has increased the need for homes, food and water supply, as well as other extra things such as malls, highways and much more. The need for those has resulted in humans cutting down trees and destroying the habitats of the deer which has lead to the population moving to other areas and causing disease because the population is to high none area. The eradication of their natural predators is the result of removing the deers natural predators; this would result in the deer overpopulating. The lack of hunting to control the population would lead to an increase in the population in urban

J. Baird Callicott and Priscilla Solis Ybarra are both professors at the University of North Texas and the situation they are explaining is that the wilderness was once seen as a wild place filled with beasts that couldn’t be tamed. They include the view points and work of great foresters like

When people talk about deer, they are commonly talking about the North American Whitetail. That is because they are so prevalent in this country. They can be found in every state in the US. The only place where you will not find any whitetails is in parts of Arizona and California. In most states the whitetail is very prevalent, especially in the northeast. They are one of the most hunted animals in this area, particularly in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Despite the amount they are hunted, both in and out of season, you can not drive more than a few miles out of the towns without seeing one that was hit by a car. The deer population in this area just keeps growing. It is unclear what

Whitetail deer have come to be known as a keystone species, species known for affecting other organisms in an ecosystem. Deer are known as a keystone species in forest habitats such as in the Eastern United States because they are capable of destroying potential forest habitat of other organisms (McShea and Rappole, 1992). For example, deer have a negative impact on forest ecosystems by trampling and over browsing over vegetation, without creating any habitat for other native species. Throughout the eastern United States, the abundance of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has increased dramatically over the last century (Taggart and Long, 2015). Population increases could be due to increased habitat fragmentation from land development, reduced predators and/or hunting pressure. Individual deer ranges varied during seasonal times, deer movements are usually greatest during the peak breeding months from late fall through winter (Williams et. al, 2012). Regardless of the cause, high deer densities can have significant effects on plant communities such as plant decay and/or even death. Deer consume a large amounts of plant biomass (leaves, buds, flowers and fruits) and directly reduce the growth, reproduction, and survival of herbaceous and woody plant species (Shen et. al, 2016). The impacts of white-tailed deer on forests along the Eastern United

The earliest known presence of the emerald ash borer in America was in 2002, near Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Since then, it has widely spread throughout the country. The emerald ash borer is a very well-named pest: its larvae bore deep into ash trees to suck their nutrients and when it emerges as an adult, it is a bright emerald

Reintroduction of wolves brought about recovery of plants and animals in Yellowstone National Park. In 1990s, deer were overpopulated due to absence of its predator, wolves. Regardless of people’s efforts, the number of deer kept increasing. As a result,

Deer play the role of a consumer in the ecosystem. Deer eat plants such as trees, shurbs, vines, and grasses. They would be considered a primary consumer because they are herbivores (animals that eat only plants). In certain forests, green plants are held in check by the deer using them for food. In the relationship of predator prey in an ecosystem, the deer become the prey for other animals, man being one of them. If the deer are taken out of an ecosystem, some green plants will over populate from the deer not there to eat them and some animal populations would decrease because they have lost a food source.

Wildlife overpopulation is a controversial topic. Some believe that wildlife overpopulation is not a real problem. I personally, believe that wildlife overpopulation is a true issue. Wildlife especially, the eastern whitetail deer population is in these modern times, is out of control. “There are an estimated 30 million whitetail deer in the United States today. Under optimal conditions, whitetail deer populations will double every two years”(Rooney). As the numbers of whitetail deer rise the land for them to live on gets smaller this may lead to deer walking on to roads and causing accidents.

The size of our deer population has increased, this means that there are more deer who live in the woodlands. This may have some extra consequents. Deer might damage trees, devour seedlings and eliminate some plants. That is why people say deer destroy our woodlands, that they destroy our nature. But they forget one important thing. A deer is as much nature as the woodland. If we want to look out for our nature, we have to look out for our deer’s too!

Improving old growth forest, has some consequences to the three components of sustainability, which are ecology, society, and economy. In the economic sense, timbers would lose the ability to cut as much wood to provide a better habitat for deer. They would lose profit and jobs in the logging industry. In the ecological sense, if there is an improvement of habitat, it would cause more a higher population in deer. If there is a higher population in deer, there would be more loss of shrubs and small trees, which would change the forest composition. This affect will change abundance of variety of birds and mammals. It would affect the overall ecology of these areas. In the societal sense, if there is an increase of deer, there has to be more and stricter management and policies for deer hunting. If there are more deer, there may be more human and deer conflict, with the potential of car accidents/

This projects primary goal was to create a comprehensive system to reduce the amount of crop damage caused by whitetail deer and prolong the time it takes for them to habituate to this system. To accomplish this, the project was broken down into six main goals and 29 objectives as outlined in Table 1.