To provide more information about its deer management public input process and challenges it faces, the Game Commission has posted the final reports from the five Citizen Advisory Committees held in Wildlife Management Units 2A, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 5A in 2008.

"Citizen Advisory Committees cultivate community outreach, program understanding and a commitment by the agency to increase regional involvement in deer management decisions," said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. "They provide members a chance to get involved and to see firsthand the diverse interests, concerns and priorities that influence deer management decisions. Most realize quickly this is a complex process that is anything but cut-and-dried."

First employed in the Game Commission's deer management program in 2006, CACs are part of the agency's ongoing effort to heighten public participation in deer management. Comprised of stakeholders with varying interests in deer, CACs provide a recommendation to agency wildlife management staff to increase, decrease or stabilize the deer herd over the next five years. However, final decisions are made by the Board of Game Commissioners, which also takes into account impacts on forest habitat health, health and productivity of the deer herd and deer-human conflicts.

This year, CACs were used to develop population management recommendations for WMU 2A, which consists of Greene County and parts of Allegheny, Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties; WMU 4C, comprising parts of Berks, Carbon, Columbia, Dauphin, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties; WMU 4D, comprising parts of Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lycoming, Mifflin, Snyder and Union counties; WMU 4E, comprising Northumberland and Montour counties and parts of Columbia, Dauphin, Lycoming, Luzerne, Schuylkill, Snyder and Union counties; and WMU 5A, which consist of part of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties.

When developing their recommendations, CACs consider deer population trend information in their respective WMUs, WMU-specific deer and forest habitat health information, as well as solicited public feedback. They conclude their work by making recommendations to allow deer numbers to increase, decrease or remain the same. Biologists in the agency's Wildlife Management Bureau consider that input when proposing antlerless deer license allocations to the Board of Game Commissioners, who also receive the results of the CAC process.

The five-year recommendations varied significantly from one committee to the next, illustrating both the differences in WMUs and member interactions and expectations. In WMU 2A, the committee recommended no change. In WMU 4E, the committee recommended a 40 percent population increase. In WMU 5A, the committee opted for a 12 percent population increase. Each of these recommendations to stabilize or increase deer populations were incorporated by the wildlife management staff in developing recommendations for the Board of Game Commissioners.

However, in WMUs 4C and 4D, the agency's deer biologists chose not to follow CAC recommendations, which were to increase the deer population by 20 and 15 percent, respectively. The primary reason for not following the recommendations was that forest habitat health in both units currently is considered "fair." Forest habitat health must improve and meet a specific quantitative target for the Wildlife Management Bureau to recommend an increase in the deer population. If this measure improves - and the deer and forest habitat health measures are checked annually - then agency staff will move to accommodate the CAC's desire to see the herd increase.

"We'd like to go along with every CAC recommendation," noted Jeannine Tardiff Fleegle, a deer biologist with the agency's Wildlife Management Bureau. "But, it's not that simple. We have to responsibly address all goals in the agency's deer management program. Deer populations must be balanced with habitat to ensure healthy forests and whitetail and wildlife populations and limit human conflicts."

In 2009, CACs are scheduled to be held in five WMUs: WMU 1A, which consists of Mercer and Lawrence counties and parts of Crawford, Venango, Butler, and Beaver counties; WMU 2E, comprising parts of Jefferson, Indiana, Clearfield, and Cambria counties; WMU 3A, comprising parts of McKean, Potter, Tioga, and Bradford counties; WMU 4A, comprising Blair, Huntingdon, Bedford, Fulton, and Franklin counties; and WMU 5B, which consist of part of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, York, Lancaster, and Chester counties.

For more information, visit the Citizen Advisory Committees webpage.

Links: Hunting and Furtaking Licenses Go On Sale June 23

6/20/2008