Other Things Deer Do In the Woods

The support for the deer kill last night in Millburn could lead one to believe that the deer are the forest ravagers the County of Essex would claim.

But in speaking with a good number of Millburn residents, it is their own back yard that they are more concerned with than the South Mountain Reservation.

So to save a few patches of lawn and some postage stamp gardens, the Millburn Township Council supported the County's plan to once again kill the Reservation deer and any poor stragglers who have the misfortune to be in that area at the time of the kill.

But I did encounter one Millburn resident who told me a story that was rather remarkable. She is against the kill, not at all convinced that the County's argument holds water, and saw for herself a benefit of deer inhabiting an unstable forested environment.

She visited Mount St. Helen's after the volcanic eruption in the 1980's and observed to her ranger guide that there were already shoots of greenery springing up every where. The guide told her that the elk and deer in the area were fertilizing the devastated landscape with their droppings, contributing nutrients for the plants.

Indeed, the deer and elk were credited with the reintroduction of vegetation by the U.S. Forest Service.

So deer do what bears do in the woods, even though we don't see them do it.

And perhaps, just perhaps, the deer in South Mountain Reservation are adding just as much to the environment as they are taking away.

But if the County has its way, we will not only lose the deer, we will lose what they naturally leave behind. And with that loss, we may even lose the potential for massive fertilization that might be the saving grace for reforestation of South Mountain.

The Amazon rain forest----"the lungs of the world" that could hold the medicinal formulas for all kinds of disease cures---may well disappear because of human ignorance before we can fully discover and tap its benefits.

So, too, the the County will decimate a natural population before it performs due diligence on what benefits may be yielded through their preservation rather than devastation.

Human ignorance knows no bounds.

A Bare forest or Bare Emperor?

Responding to a reader of this blog, Dennis Percher, The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of South Mountain Reservation, defended the deer kill as the only solution to maintaining a healthy forest.

In an email to this blog's reader, Percher cited Gail Keirn, Public Affairs Specialist, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Keirn has indicated that makers of Gonacon have not yet submitted the registration package to the Environmental Protection Agency for the approval of GonaCon pending the completion of additional documents.

Kerin also indicated that "once that is done, it will be another '12 to 18 months' until approval.

She went on to say that by that point, the Reservation population can hopefully be brought down to a level where we want to stabilize the herd.

Percher concluded his own argument based on Keirn's statements that: "We cannot regenerate the forest without the deer population being under control. And without regeneration, the forest as we know it will continue to die."

All of this is circuitous logic. And, apparently, there are many who are buying into this circuitous argument and repeating the same party line. The Conservancy is even getting NJ Audubon to back their logic by stating that bird species are disappearing, again drawing the nebulous line back to defoliation, and, ultimately, back to the deer.

But let's back up.

If the main reason for the deer kill is the defoliation of South Mountain Reservation, then shouldn't we be absolutely certain that the deer are the main--- if not only---- reason for the defoliation?

According to another reader of this blog who has done extensive research, the defoliation is not the only or even major reason.

"Forests everywhere in New Jersey and other states are failing due to fragmentation, sprawl, the draining of wetlands, the clear-cutting of forests, pollution, invasive species, climate changes, and the acid rain that has been falling throughout the entire 20th century. In addition the soil in most areas was already acidic because the many rocks are acidic.

Decades of acid precipitation have removed alkalinity and lowered the pH of the forest soil. Liming is necessary to improve soils and grow new trees, particularly acid-sensitive species such as sugar maple and red oak. In addition, liming has been shown to increase the number and diversity of forest birds and wildflower species. Liming of areas may increase the ability of the soil to regenerate plant and tree life, but killing the deer will not.

Although deer are a part of the forest equation, the issues involving forest ecology and regeneration are complex with many contributing variables. Deer are constantly villainized, but forest soils are a far bigger problem than the deer. Light is also a limiting factor due to forest canopies."

Are the forests really bare because of the deer, or are all the supporters for the deer kill closing their eyes to the reality of forest defoliation? Or put another way, despite the greater number of people who saw the emperor finely attired, there was one (and only one) voice from the crowd who called it as it was. The emperor was bare. And so is the story of the deer killing the forest and reducing bird populations. Let's call this for what it is.