Too Many Deer!
A Case Study in Managing Urban Deer Herds

Part I - Description of Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve

by
Eric Ribbens
Department of Biological Sciences
Western Illinois University

Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve (WWNP) is an urban nature preserve located in Evansville, Indiana. Evansville is in southwestern Indiana, on the banks of the Ohio River, and is the third-largest city in the state of Indiana. The rapidly expanding metropolitan area has more than 250,000 residents. WWNP is located entirely inside the city limits of Evansville and is surrounded by typical urban development for at least a mile in every direction. West of WWNP is residential, south is a large baseball field, a freeway, a large park-like psychiatric facility, and then, about one mile away, it becomes residential. North of WWNP is residential. About a half mile north is the Pigeon Creek Floodplain, which contains a large stream meandering through city and suburbs. East of WWNP is a large shopping mall, several car dealers, and a series of stores, gyms, and other commercial facilities, extending for several miles to the east.

The woods includes 220 acres of old growth bottomland hardwood forest that has never been logged. The forest is unusual, with a very high density of large trees. It is dominated by tuliptree and sweetgum, with significant components of several oak species, hackberry, and sugar maple. It is very flat and tends to be swampy in the spring. There are a number of trails through the woods, many of which include boardwalks over the wetter areas. While the woods has not been thoroughly studied, historically it contained a high diversity of plant species, including several rare orchids.

Wesselman Woods was established as a state nature preserve in the 1930s and as a city park in the 1960s. In 1972 a field station was built on the edge of the preserve, which is staffed by four people who primarily work as environmental educators of school groups. Three of the staff, including the director of Wesselman Woods, are hired and paid for by the city of Evansville; the other staff person is hired and paid for by the nonprofit Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve Society, which assists Wesselman Woods in a variety of ways.

In 1998, the director of Wessleman Woods established a Natural Resources Committee. Several local scientists teaching at two local universities served on the committee. The committee has decided that the deer population at WWNP is too high and the herd should be reduced substantially.

Study Questions:

1. What evidence would you want to see before you agreed that the deer population is too high?
   
   
2. Deer are herbivores. What effects do you think a high deer population would have on Wesselman Woods?
   
   
3. Let's assume that you agree that the deer population is too high. What solutions would you propose for solving the deer population problem?
   
   
4. What other solutions might people propose?
   
   
5. Who are the stakeholders in the Wesselman Woods deer herd management? (Hint: someone who drives by the woods would be a stakeholder, due to the risk of a collision).

Go to PART II - Public Hearing Scenario

Date Posted: mb 03/05/01
Image Credit: Deer images courtesy of Robert Savannah, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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