POV
BA Foresters- Turner
Ashby H.S.
11/4/2010
Deer overpopulation has gotten out of hand.
With nearly 1 million deer throughout the state
of Virginia, the impact can be seen in our state’s
forests. As foresters, we feel that the
overpopulation of deer is very harmful to our
forests. The large number of deer has caused an
overwhelming amount of destruction throughout the
years. They cause deterioration of our
forests by spreading diseases, modifying forests’
interior, and through a number of other
damaging habits. There are ways to fix problems like
these, but many people are not willing to
put forth the time and effort to do so. Others are
against population controls. We will describe
to you the negative effect of deer overpopulation
and the pros and cons of different methods
of population control.
Deer cause massive amounts of deterioration and
destruction in our forests because of
their eating habits. For foresters, this is the main
problem deer cause. Deer are selective
grazers—this means that they only eat certain
plants. Deer frequently masticate Redbud, Apple,
Crabapple, Pear, Cherry, White Pine, Hemlock trees,
along with many others. They also eat
shrubs and climbers, like Mountain Laurel,
Blackberries, and Raspberries. They also deteriorate
the forest floor so much that you can barely see
wildflowers. Due to their selective eating
habits, deer cause a lack of biodiversity in plant
and tree species. This way of grazing also
fluctuates the competitive advantage among plant
species and causes the canopy of the forest
to have a much larger variety of species than that
of the under story.
There are many solutions to the problem of deer
overpopulation. One method is to increase
the number of deer exclusion fences. Studies show
that where these fences were built, the
forests grew back. Another method would be to lower
the cost of hunting licenses so that they
are more affordable. With more people hunting, the
deer population would decrease. We could
also increase the number of wolves and/or coyotes.
Both of these animals feast on deer.
Although a lot of people can’t fathom the idea of
“murdering” deer, these are plausible and, in
the long run, more cost efficient than doing nothing
about the overpopulation.
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