So, how do you feel about deer? Over the past 100 years, populations of the
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have gone from scarce to
ubiquitous. There’s a significant body of research pointing to the
detrimental impacts of deer overbrowsing on our forests. Here at The Field
Guides, we don’t like to exclude anyone, but we are interested in learning
about deer exclosures – structures designed to keep these plentiful
herbivores out of an area. Usually they are placed to allow for forest
regeneration or to study the effects of deer exclusion; often, it’s done
for both reasons. So what does the research show? Does excluding deer lead
to healthier forests? This episode will shed some light on the answer.
Listen to this rare, Steve-less episode as Bill is joined by Kristen
Rosenburg, an environmental educator with the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation. They discuss deer exclosures, check some out at
Kristen’s work site, and talk about what happens when researchers “Build
That Wall!”. Special thanks to Kristen for sharing her time and expertise
with us, as well as to the NYS DEC for allowing us to steal Kristen away
for a morning.
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