I recently attended a program called 鈥淒eer in the Woods鈥� about the synergy between the deer population and the forest in Windham County, sponsored by the Dummerston Conservation Committee.
The program began with opening statements from four panelists: George Weir, a consulting forester; Nick Fortin, the lead deer biologist for Vermont Fish and Wildlife; Tim Morton, a Stewardship Forester with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation; and David Deen, a long-time representative to the Vermont Legislature, who chairs the House Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources.
All together, these four represent well over a century of experience in the field. They鈥檙e all well spoken and knowledgeable about the changes over time in Windham County鈥檚 forests and deer herd 鈥� which are closely connected. And all agree that deer overpopulation combined with a decline in hunting has had a negative effect on the forest.
Not all hunters agree - perhaps because they remember when Vermont鈥檚 deer population exploded in the nineteen-fifties and sixties.
As a result, in 1979, the state implemented modern deer management practices to reduce the herd. And that wasn鈥檛 a popular move with Vermont鈥檚 hunters. But these days it鈥檚 the hunter population that鈥檚 in decline, contributing further to a larger than ideal herd.
The problem, put simply, is this: Deer graze on greenery and browse on twigs, eating about ten to fifteen pounds of food a day. Once the grass and leaves die off in the fall, the deer turn to saplings of oak, ash and sugar maple 鈥� some of Vermont鈥檚 most valuable and slow-growing trees. The deer have eaten whole groves of them down to the ground in my part of the state, allowing opportunistic, faster-growing species to move in, including beech, black birch and invasive species, like glossy buckthorn.
It鈥檚 not a simple problem, of course. It鈥檚 only one aspect of a complex ecosystem that includes changes in climate, human habitation and natural processes. But to me it鈥檚 clear that trees, deer and humans are all part of a living landscape, which requires all three elements to maintain a delicate balance.
Historically, hunters have been part of the system that protected that balance. And now, I鈥檓 one of them.
