Deer Density Effects On A Forest Ecosystem: A Study Its History-Design-Implementation

Today's second growth Cherry-Maple forests on the Allegheny Plateau have been heavily influenced by decades of overbrowsing by white-tailed deer. When these forests were established deer were nearly extinct in Pennsylvania. Laws to protect deer and vat amounts of forage created by the extensive cutting that took place from 1890 to 1930 combined to set the stage for a major eruption of the deer herd that lasted through the early '40s. A combination of severe winters and lack of forage caused by stands growing out of reach of the deer caused mass starvation and a sharp decline in populations from 1940 through the early 1950's. As the forests began to reach commercial size in the '50s cutting increased and modern deer herd management techniques were instituted. Deer herds increased although not as rapidly as earlier and began to level of or decline slightly in the 1980's to the present day. This paper will describe the history of forests and deer on the Plateau form pre-settlement time to the present. This was written by Jim Redding.

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