Solutions to Deer Overpopulation

Many of my clients in Oregon deal with deer overpopulation. This manifests in deer coming onto their property and eating their plants. When you invest in delicious food-producing plants, you want to eat them, not watch them be decimated by deer.

I recently advised a client who reached out with questions about how to deal with a lot of deer in her neighborhood doing exactly this. The problem of deer overpopulation is in truth an issue of wildlife mismanagement. Deer are a problem because their predators have been removed from the system. I highly recommend advocating for protections for natural predators such as cougars, bears, and wolves. These animals rarely attack humans and are vital to a healthy regional ecosystem.

To get started on a path to fixing the problem of too many deer, I recommend reading the results of reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. These majestic and intelligent natural forest managers allowed tree saplings to survive the dangerous window where the out-of-control elk population were eating the baby trees down to the ground. They also helped restore precious beaver populations and more.

Wolves have been maligned by the media and popular stories like Little Red Riding Hood, and marginalized by the ranching lobby without a counterbalance to keep their numbers healthy. Citizens have a powerful opportunity to balance what our elected officials hear, because if we don't add our voices, all the government in charge of our parks and the forests have is the corporate lobby in their ears.

One of the senators I corresponded with in Oregon confirmed this to me in no uncertain terms, and you can also find evidence of this in the strange case of corporate personhood, which every American deserves to know anyway. Writing to Congress and the Senat to ask for their execution of your wishes as their constituents (employers) is a surprisingly effective way to influence wildlife mismanagement.

One issue near and dear to my heart is standing up against Wildlife Services’

brutal killing of millions of animals every year inside of our national forests. A not very well-known bureau of the US government (I mentioned them to a Fish and Wildlife officer near Salem in 2022 and the staff person had never even heard of them), they use taxpayer dollars, and their methods are inhumane.

Understanding the landscape as a system is my approach to all so-called pest problems. While mainstream commercial and certain special interest lobbies favor so-called solutions that boost their profits, restoring balance to the larger landscape is the most sustainable way to truly address the overpopulation of one species over others.

Citizen involvement may take a bit of time and effort, but it is necessary to

address the root of the deer issue.

Another method of influencing the landscape is through permaculture. You can reintroduce or support existing beneficial wildlife on your property. Adding habitat and removing poisons are two actions you can take that will deliver results. While you probably don't want to attract wolves to keep deer out of your back yard, you can discourage the leaf-eating pests by planting a multifunctional hedgerow as a living fence around the perimeter of your land or lot. Use a mix of shrub species, plants deer like to eat on the outside and plants you can eat on the inside. That way, they'll have access to something they want without needing to jump your fence.

For more details on how to create a multifunctional hedgerow or to get a plan for rebalancing your property’s ecology and keeping deer out of your yard, schedule a FREE strategy session.