What evidence is there of woodland damage by deer?
Impacts to our ecology from excessive deer density, is the least known problem in the community. Each deer consumes approximately 10 pounds of vegetation each day. This rate of consumption coupled with very high densities leads to a loss in biodiversity of both plants and other animals that depend on those plants and threatens the stability of our natural areas. Deer have overbrowsed the lower layer in our woodlands, leaving an open, park-like setting of mature trees with little or nothing below them. In a healthy forest there are three layers: a non-woody vegetation or groundcover, with wildflowers and bulbs; the understory comprised of shrubs and saplings; and the canopy, which is comprised of mature trees. Clearly, our forests are no longer healthy given the absence of the understory and groundcover. We cannot blame this lack of understory on the “maturing forest” and “natural succession” as some would have us believe. According to forestry experts at Yale and at CAES, these Fairfie
