BOB@BBT
01-16-2006, 08:07 AM
This was the lead editorial in Sunday's Detroit Free Press...
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/OPINION01/601150331/1069
Editorials
Too Many Deer Here
Gentle creatures create big problems if population is not properly controlled
January 15, 2006
It's such an understatement, given the circumstances: Tens of thousands more deer roam southeast Michigan than the land can support and people can live with safely. The state Department of Natural Resources, in the midst of evaluating its deer management plans statewide, has numbers that suggest counties such as Oakland, Livingston and Washtenaw need to lose about half their deer.
For safety's sake, they're surely right. Car-deer accidents declined a bit in 2004 from a peak in 2003, but the numbers remain startling: 1,551 in Oakland County, 1,283 in Washtenaw, and 1,251 in Livingston. That's a daily average of 3-4 run-ins with deer per county.
But how to go about thinning the herd in a metropolitan area? For the DNR, which is taking comment on its 2006-10 goals through Friday, the answer rests mostly on hunting: more doe permits; more special permits on farms and in parks, despite the protests that usually emerge; longer seasons; cajoling more owners to open their land to hunters; and even encouraging a bow-and-arrow season in some communities that ban hunting.
The DNR concedes that watching deer provides pleasure, but otherwise the deer only cause problems as development spreads farther and farther into former farms and woodlots. In addition to the car-deer crashes, unhappy gardeners lose choice plants, the farmers remaining at the exurban fringe lose crops, and other wild animals -- particularly birds and rabbits -- lose shelter and food as deer munch up the small trees, bushes and wildflowers. As built-up townships enact hunting restrictions, the deer browse in safety.
Meanwhile, parts of the Upper Peninsula go begging. There are now fewer deer north of Clare than there are in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula
The DNR's Luce management area, which covers parts of four counties along Lake Superior to the west of Sault Ste. Marie, is Oakland County's mirror opposite. The DNR goal is 24,300-30,400 deer for Luce; it counts only 9,400 there now and is focused on forestry changes that may help deer survive a harsh winter. Until that's fixed, even a tender-hearted deer relocation program would turn cruel in the end.
The relative scarcity of up-north deer ought to help convince southeast Michigan hunters to stay closer to home. In 2004, 41,000 Oakland County residents got deer permits, but less than a third said they hunted in the county. The cachet of the trip north apparently still matters more than where the deer are -- unless, of course, they get your car first.
The DNR will take comment on deer in southeast Michigan from 6-8 p.m. Monday at Imlay City High School, 1101 Norlin Dr., Imlay City; and from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Summit Academy Schools, 18601 Middlebelt, Romulus. Information about the 2006-10 deer goals can be found at www.michigan.gov/dnr.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/OPINION01/601150331/1069
Editorials
Too Many Deer Here
Gentle creatures create big problems if population is not properly controlled
January 15, 2006
It's such an understatement, given the circumstances: Tens of thousands more deer roam southeast Michigan than the land can support and people can live with safely. The state Department of Natural Resources, in the midst of evaluating its deer management plans statewide, has numbers that suggest counties such as Oakland, Livingston and Washtenaw need to lose about half their deer.
For safety's sake, they're surely right. Car-deer accidents declined a bit in 2004 from a peak in 2003, but the numbers remain startling: 1,551 in Oakland County, 1,283 in Washtenaw, and 1,251 in Livingston. That's a daily average of 3-4 run-ins with deer per county.
But how to go about thinning the herd in a metropolitan area? For the DNR, which is taking comment on its 2006-10 goals through Friday, the answer rests mostly on hunting: more doe permits; more special permits on farms and in parks, despite the protests that usually emerge; longer seasons; cajoling more owners to open their land to hunters; and even encouraging a bow-and-arrow season in some communities that ban hunting.
The DNR concedes that watching deer provides pleasure, but otherwise the deer only cause problems as development spreads farther and farther into former farms and woodlots. In addition to the car-deer crashes, unhappy gardeners lose choice plants, the farmers remaining at the exurban fringe lose crops, and other wild animals -- particularly birds and rabbits -- lose shelter and food as deer munch up the small trees, bushes and wildflowers. As built-up townships enact hunting restrictions, the deer browse in safety.
Meanwhile, parts of the Upper Peninsula go begging. There are now fewer deer north of Clare than there are in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula
The DNR's Luce management area, which covers parts of four counties along Lake Superior to the west of Sault Ste. Marie, is Oakland County's mirror opposite. The DNR goal is 24,300-30,400 deer for Luce; it counts only 9,400 there now and is focused on forestry changes that may help deer survive a harsh winter. Until that's fixed, even a tender-hearted deer relocation program would turn cruel in the end.
The relative scarcity of up-north deer ought to help convince southeast Michigan hunters to stay closer to home. In 2004, 41,000 Oakland County residents got deer permits, but less than a third said they hunted in the county. The cachet of the trip north apparently still matters more than where the deer are -- unless, of course, they get your car first.
The DNR will take comment on deer in southeast Michigan from 6-8 p.m. Monday at Imlay City High School, 1101 Norlin Dr., Imlay City; and from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Summit Academy Schools, 18601 Middlebelt, Romulus. Information about the 2006-10 deer goals can be found at www.michigan.gov/dnr.