MikeE51848

Read an interesting articlerecently, from the US Forest Service, titled "Protecting Our Forests". What was peculiar about the article, in which they listed four main "threats to the forest". The first was "Fire and fuel" which dealt with housing encroachment on forests adding more potential fuel to forest fires, Second was "unwanted invasive species" such as the Asian longhorn beetle and the gypsy moth, Third was "loss of open space", specifically land developement, and Fourth, "unmanaged outdoor recreation", specifically too many off-road vehicles which erode soil, pollute water, and destroy habitats.

I didn't see "too many deer" on the list, nor in the article.

jcchartboy

What makes you think theyshould have?

MikeE51848

It's the number 1 cause in PA, everybody knows that.

PABowhntr

Interesting article Mike. I wonder if the fact that it was supposed to be a "National Article" then they didn't skew it too much towards addressing problems suggested specifically for PA. I say that with a bit of sarcasm in my typing.

Mark99

No there are not too many deer in Pa. No the deer are not destroying the forest.

jcchartboy

......Mike

As you so eloquently stated "everybody knows that". It was clearly obvious where you were going....to beat the dead horse again on your issue. Unfortunately, as you yourselfpointed out, the US Forest service has more important issues to deal with. If you wanted to discuss an unrelated topic,( "It's the number 1 cause in PA"), you should have simply posted the issue you wanted to discuss.

BTW...#1 cause of what?

AJ52

I think every true outdoorsman would agree that Humans (3 main causes) are the most destructive creature on the face of the earth. Add to that such critters as Beetles and the Gypsy Moth and that IMO would be the legitimate top 4.

Living in a rural area I have seen the destruction of hardwoods by Gypsy Moths. They can,will and do gobble up thousands of acres of hard wood forests in 1-2 years. IMO this far out ways any over browsing by deer in any part of the country. Over browsing does not destroy/kill a forest system. Humans and Bugs will.

If US Forest Service made it a top 5 list maybe the deer would have made a claim to fame.

Terasec

too many deer may be a local issue,
overall think deer population has been well managed,

livbucks

I think there are too many deer. Not that there are alot of deer, but rather that there are too many for the poor habitat to support. Deer that live in a mature forest live a hard life. We need large scale clearcutting to regenerate a thriving "ecosystem". Nothing gets mother nature in gear more than large scale destruction. The whole state of PA was clearcut at the turn of the century. We have now come full circle again to a mature forest with a dead floor. Then the eco-wizards want to cut tiny parcels and blame the starving deer that eat the limited amount of new growth. We can not go on with this eco-tourist mindset that is prevailing in PA. You cannot preserve the forest in it's "pretty" (HUGE TREES FOR MILES) condition. That would be the equivalent of making humans live forever. Everything will decline to the point that there are no more deer except in city backlots, or out in the plains. All that will be left is majestic trees for some detached yuppies to stare at in awe with their wife and 2.5 kids on their "outings". As long as they are happy, I guess. In case the "foresters" don't realize it. The trees that grow now in the big woods, grew from the cutoff stumps left after they clearcut everything in sight in this state. When you cut that way, there is no amount of browsing that will hold mother nature back. If it gets chewed off today, it grows back tomorrow.