Penn State Extension will host a three-part Deer Impact Assessment and Mitigation Summit March 25 and 30 and on April 1 from Noon to 2:00 p.m. on each day.

White-tailed deer are an integral component of our regional ecosystem, but high deer impact in vegetated landscapes represents a significant factor influencing the work of natural resource managers in regenerating and establishing diverse forests, rehabilitating degraded sites, creating desired habitat conditions, and achieving other land management objectives.

The webinars offer a roundup of current knowledge, practices, and strategies for understanding, defining, measuring, and mitigating deer impact in natural resource management.

Each of three successive program sessions offers multiple expert presentations followed by a facilitated question-and-answer period involving the full panel of speakers.

Sessions include--

-- Understanding Deer, Deer Impact Issues, and Deer Management: David Stainbrook, Bret Wallingford, Duane Diefenbach, and Kip Adams discuss the context for current conditions regarding deer and deer impact in the region; how we got to where we are today; how deer impact and interact with the landscape; current trends, issues, and management approaches.

-- Assessing and Measuring Deer Impact in the Landscape: David deCalesta, Tom Rawinski, Bernd Blossey, Brendan Quirion, and Emily Domoto discuss practical strategies and indicators for evaluating, measuring, and classifying levels of deer impact to inform management planning; how managers may select appropriate evaluation strategies, differentiate levels of impact in standardized ways, and incorporate long-term impact assessment in management planning.

-- Mitigating Deer Impact in Natural Resource Management Approaches: Alejandro Royo, Peter Smallidge, Brett Chedzoy, and David Gustafson discuss considerations for planning practical deer impact mitigation strategies once existing or potential impact is determined to be significant through assessment; how landscape-scale context factors in to current and expected future deer impact; how exclosures may be most efficiently used to minimize deer impact in certain areas and over time; how multiple mitigation approaches can be combined within a broader management plan across multiple areas and over time.

Click Here to register or for more information.

NewsClip:

Marcus Schneck: Understanding And Managing Impact Of Deer Is Focus Of Penn State Webinars

[Posted: February 23, 2021]

3/1/2021