Browser Wars
We noticed one day last week that the Rhododendrons in a large area of the hillside above Nameless Creek had no leaves up to the level of our shoulders. It was as if something had come along and nipped entire leaves or half of the ones that remained from all the vegetation in that area. Something had.
That same day on NPR, we heard this story of the demise of ginseng from the remote places it used to be common. Studies suspected the lucrative crop was being depleted by overharvesting by collectors; the root brings from $300 to $500 a pound in the East and some mountain folk still supplement their income gathering "sang". No, it isn't the two legged browsers at blame, but deer. And the ginseng is just a sexy symbol among the few plants some have heard of. Many of those only a botanist would know are disappearing along with the Trilliums, Goldenseal and Trout Lilies.
Unless there is a way to bring the deer population back into balance with our forests, these voracious browswers will cause problems by other means than their effects on the front ends of our cars and trucks. They have become somewhat of a plague, and we sorely need a predator back in the foodweb.
Comments
Fred, have you read Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer"? I found it fascinating how she talks about the environment, and the importance of carnivores (prey animals) to the whole "chain of being."
Posted by: lauragayle | February 17, 2005 9:50 AM
Mountain lions!
Posted by: Myke | February 17, 2005 2:50 PM
I have found rhododendron to be an excellent indicator of deer browse pressure. It also tends to sprout up from the roots quite promptly when browsing diminishes, so here in Plummer's Hollow we've used the quality of rhododendron as one, strong indicator of deer management success or failure.
Posted by: Dave | February 17, 2005 8:09 PM
30-30!
Great chili, great tacos, great sausage, great steaks. Tan the hides for good soft (expensive) leatherwork material. Young bucks make good hatracks.
Posted by: Scott Chaffin | February 17, 2005 10:34 PM
I blame Walt Disney for the deer population problem. ;^)
It's not well known but native Americans not only hunted deer but they burned forest undergrowth to manage game animal populations.
BTW- There's a new garden product that sounds like a boon for those of us who do a lot of container gardening. I would appreciate your opinion.
http://www.edenbio.com/hg/hgmain.html
I am reluctant to introduce genetically engineered products in the garden as our run-off goes into the bay. Whatcha think?
Posted by: BJ | February 18, 2005 10:03 AM
Same problem here in Alabama. The state has adjusted the hunting laws somewhat to compensate, and allowed more hunting of does. But after years of being mostly restricted to bucks, that's all the hunters want.
We have an excess of trillium-eating deer in our county... didn't realize that they ate the "sang" too.
Posted by: Karen | February 20, 2005 6:11 PM
We've just recently noticed the same thing on our walks. Though in our case it was in our pasture, and it was our goats eating the rhodos. Which is really weird, because rhododendron is extremely toxic---we know of a number of goats who have died after eating a tiny amount, and we have nearly lost a few ourselves. So why can goats and deer eat it right now? Is it something about the time of year?
Posted by: rosemoon | February 24, 2005 8:35 AM