An
abundance of deer can negatively impact woody stem regeneration.
An
abundance of deer can negatively impact woody stem regeneration.
Over-browsing by deer in Brown County State Park was eliminating advance regeneration of most tree species. Outside the park, where the deer population had not exceeded its carrying capacity, advance woody regeneration and recruitment was not reduced. This photo shows a deer exclosure (center) established following a fire in Brown County State Park, IN, during 1988. Notice regeneration is successfully occurring within the exclosure, while little to no tree species and very few herb species are establishing outside of the exclosure.
Photo by S. E. Brown, MTU