After grappling for five years with a controversial deer culling program, forest preserve officials on Thursday scaled back the winter kill to study how severely the animals are damaging the woods.
Deer culling had been in effect in three Lake County Forest Preserves, but officials suspended it at two of those preserves. Critics said the suspension was irreponsible and would result in serious damage to local forests.
An overabundance of deer has been blamed for harming the ecosystem. Large numbers of the hooved animals, which are no longer held in check by natural predators such as wolves, can damage plants, biologists say. As deer populations boom, their foraging can destroy habitat that other species use.
Instead of shooting 31 deer this winter in forest preserves, only 15 deer will be shot, officials said. The animals will be killed at Wright/Lloyd’s Woods near Mettawa. The numbers of deer that need to be slain are based on aerial surveys of the deer population and analysis of deer damage to forested areas.
Deer will not be shot at Ryerson Woods, near Riverwoods, or at MacArthur Preserve, near Mettawa and Vernon Hills, officials said.
Managers of natural areas across the country commonly use winter deer kills to control the deer populations. The method has been recommended by state conservationists, who say the deer population is at an all-time high in Illinois.
Nonetheless, deer culling is controversial not only with organized animal welfare advocates but with a public that has a soft spot for the Bambi look.
The debate has been especially charged in Lake and Du Page Counties, where animal rights groups have battled to save the deer.
At an emotional meeting Thursday of a committee for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, critics of the change said more deer would cause more destruction. The new policy, critics further contend, disregards the forest preserve district’s own deer management program.
Forest Preserve President and County Commissioner Colin McRae (R-Mundelein) suggested that the deer cull program be revised, saying a change would allow the district to glean valuable information about the effectiveness of the deer managment program.
“We’ve never stopped (the culling) to study a control group,” said McRae, who is running in the March primary for re-election to the County Board. “That’s why we picked Ryerson; it’s been going on there since 1989. It has the best historical data.
“We’ll then compare a year from now and see if damage has taken place.”
In the five years since the program began, forest preserve biologists say deer damage at Ryerson has dropped because of the deer culling and that numerous endangered species have returned to the preserve. But now district officials want to see the results after a one-year suspension there.
But commissioner Martha Marks (R-Riverwoods), who opposed the decision, said: “Why are we letting Ryerson go to pot? We’re not following our own policy. If we suspend this program we will see a significant drop in recovery” of the forest at Ryerson.
“It also suggests that we don’t believe in our own program,” she said.
“We’re not retreating from our policy,” McRae said.. “But we are going to kill 15 deer this year.
“We want to enhance the program, not kill it,” McRae said, adding that the comparison studies will help do that.
Thursday’s decision drew cautious praise from Davida Terry, a Prairie View resident and president of the Ryerson Deer Foundation, a group devoted to the preservation of deer.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction,” she said, “but I don’t know what one year will show.”
She said she would prefer that no deer be killed anywhere and praised McRae for his initiative.
In addition to Ryerson, the suspension also will be in effect at MacArthur Preserve. Only five deer had been slated for removal there.
The program will continue in Wright/Lloyd’s Woods, which has experienced severe damage. At Wright/Lloyd’s Woods, deer culling was first used last winter.
