ORIGINAL: bluebird2
Amazing! It is simply amazing that people wouldn’t understand that the forest health really is very much about how many deer can live there.
What you continually fail to realize is that forest health as defined by the PGC is drastically different than habitat health as defined by the deer. The deer in the NC counties have proven that they can survive and be quite healthy for long periods without the degree of regeneration that is preferred by the PGC. For example, if a 100 acre oak clearcut regenerates with beech,striped maple , birch , blackberry ,raspberry and maple, it will support just as many or if not more deer than if the same area had regenerated with 75% oak.
Studies show that the MSY carrying capacity of an over browsed forest of beech birch and striped maple is around 40 DPSM, which is about the deer density we had in the NC counties in the 70's. Today the PGC is managing the herd in 2G at 8 or 9 DPSM in attempt to get regeneration of the existing canopy ,even though the previous goal for for 2G, which was established by the same experts,was 15 DPSM. and DCNR