Back in the deer debate
By Christian Berg
Of The Morning Call
Seven months after leaving the state Game Commission in disgust, Gary Alt is jumping back into the deer management debate with a series of seminars around the state.
Alt, who left his job as supervisor of the commission's deer management section Dec. 31, will be the featured speaker at five workshops being sponsored by The Ecosystem Management Project, a coalition of more than 30 groups representing farmers, foresters, environmentalists, landowners and hunters.
Alt will speak on ''The Challenges and Solutions of Managing Deer in Pennsylvania.'' His first appearance will be Sept. 10 at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, with other events planned for Sept. 17 in Westmoreland County, Sept. 24 in Dauphin County, Oct. 1 in Pike County and Nov. 12 in Montgomery County.
Alt said he agreed to the speaking tour partly because he disagrees with the commission's recent decision to reduce the 2005-06 antlerless deer license allocation by 15 percent overall and by at least 20 percent in six of the state's 22 Wildlife Management Units.
''There's little in the way of facts that will justify backing off of that program,'' said Alt, 54, of Moscow, Lackawanna County. ''But politically, they had no choice.''
Several other speakers also will appear at the workshops, including Timothy Schaeffer, executive director of Audubon Pennsylvania. The Game Commission has been invited to participate, but spokesman Jerry Feaser said the agency declined.
''Given our current financial situation, we are unable to schedule anyone for those types of conferences,'' Feaser said. ''We've already dramatically cut our overtime and travel budgets.''
During more than five years as the commission's top deer biologist, Alt was a strong advocate of reducing whitetail numbers. Under his leadership, the agency dramatically increased the number of antlerless deer licenses available to hunters, expanded antlerless seasons and implemented antler restrictions that reduced the number of bucks killed each year.
Under Alt, annual buck harvests dropped 30 percent, while annual antlerless harvests rose 20 percent. Over the past four years, hunters recorded the four highest antlerless deer harvests in state history, including a record 352,113 in 2000.
By removing more does from the forest and allowing bucks to grow older, Alt believes hunters can help create a smaller, healthier deer herd in balance with available habitat and where dominant bucks handle the majority of breeding duties.
''My story hasn't changed,'' Alt said. ''I resigned because the program was heading in a direction I felt was indefensible. I'd rather go down for a cause that was just than fight for a cause I didn't believe in.''
Although Alt acknowledges that progress has been made and deer numbers are down in many areas, he said whitetail numbers must be reduced further and held at lower levels for years in order to give forest habitat time to regenerate.
Commission officials, meanwhile, say deer numbers are low enough and that biologists are already seeing forest regeneration in some places.
''So, for the first time in 75 years, you start to see anecdotal evidence that we are getting a [positive] response, and what do you do, stop it?'' Alt asked.
Alt advocates an ecosystem-oriented approach to deer management where decisions are based not only on deer numbers, but also on the impact those deer are having on forests, crops and other wildlife species.
''I don't know how many deer are in Pennsylvania,'' Alt said. ''What I do know is that in many areas of Pennsylvania, there are so many deer they are eating themselves out of house and home.
''You cannot deny this is a major environmental problem, and it's impossible to deny we have been raising more deer than there should have been.''
Despite what Alt claims is a preponderance of scientific evidence that indicates deer numbers are too high, he said the commission is incapable of doing anything about it because virtually all of the agency's revenue is provided by hunters who want to see more deer.
''The system is broken,'' Alt said. ''Politically, the Game Commission can't meet their mission [of] sustainable resource management because, if they try to do it, their funders will cut them off. They are in a no-win situation.''
Alt, who spent 27 years with the commission, said he has no interest in getting back into government work. However, he would like to help develop a plan that would provide the commission with a more diverse funding mechanism that would prevent any one group from wielding undue influence.
''The future of our natural resources is going to be determined in part by sustainable, adequate conservation funding, and it's going to go way beyond hunter's license dollars,'' Alt said.
''So long as that agency is funded primarily from hunter license monies, they have a zero percent chance of solving this problem.''
christian.berg@mcall.com
610-778-2252
Alt Announces New Lecture Series
