Forest
Stewardship News Release
October
3 , 2007- For Immediate Release
Contact: Allyson
Muth, Phone: 814-865-3208, E-mail:
Caring for Deer and Forests: A Web-Based Resource Center for Eastern North America
Written by: Jim Finley, 814-863-0402, fj4@psu.edu
It is fall and many Pennsylvanians spend the shortening days in our state’s forests. With the start of the deer hunting season and the fall rut, deer and their habitat are very much in the public awareness. Weather and hunting provide the incentive to be afield and to observe the condition of both deer and forests. Well-rounded bodies, sleek coats, fawn numbers, and heavy-antlered bucks demonstrate deer health. Healthy forests are sometimes less obvious or well understood, and the connection between them not explicitly examined.
However, deer, forests, and people are connected. Forests provide food, cover, and clean water that deer need. Forests growing on nutrient-rich soils with many food plants can support many more deer than forests with poor soils and few forest floor plants. That is, they have a higher carrying capacity. Deer add grace and beauty to the forest. What they eat affects how forests grow, how many deer they can support, and habitat for other wildlife. Hunters seek deer for meat and for the love of the hunt as they have for hundreds of years. Peoples’ understanding and choices about deer and forests shape all these connections.
Where do you learn about caring for deer and forests? Many of us learned from our parents, or others who took us to the woods. Some people are more or less self-taught and learn by observing, reading, and listening to what others say. In Pennsylvania, discussions about deer and forest often hinge on emotions and opinions held strongly by people.
Recently a team of
scientists and extension educators with input from a broad-based advisory
team, and funding from the USDA Forest Service created the Caring for
Deer and Forests website (http://deerandforests.org).
The University of Georgia Southern Regional Extension Forestry Program,
Penn State University, and the US Forest Service Northern Station Research
& Development Project maintain the site. The purpose for the site
is to provide information and examples about these connections -- about
deer habitat, deer impact, and strategies to care for deer and forests
together; and to serve as a clearinghouse for resources about connections
among people, deer, and forests.
When you visit the Caring for Deer and Forest website, we suggest you
start by visiting “Habitat” in the navigation menu. The images
there will help you learn to assess forest and habitat health. These images
provide a way to assess forest and habitat health by looking at understory
conditions with low, medium, and high deer impact. By following other
links on the website, you can read popular and research-based literature
on caring for forests and deer.
Caring for Deer and Forests is not only a resource for you to learn from, it is also a tool for sharing your stories, pictures, and resources that show deer and forest management in eastern North America. By visiting the website (http://deerandforests.org) you can learn how to submit material to help others understand how to have both healthy forests and deer.
Enjoy Pennsylvania’s forests and the many species of flora and fauna that call them home. Forests are wonderful and we all have a stake in caring for them and in passing them on to the next generation of Pennsylvanians.
The Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program provides publications on a variety of topics related to woodland management for private landowners. For a list of free publications, call 1-800-235-WISE (toll-free), send e-mail to , or write to: Forest Stewardship Program, Forest Resources Extension, The Pennsylvania State University, 320 Forest Resources Building, University Park, PA 16802. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry and USDA Forest Service, in partnership with the Penn State's Forest Resources Extension, sponsor the Forest Stewardship Program in Pennsylvania.
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