UPDATE: We are re-running this piece from our Going Native gardening series in May given the current the work of the City’s Deer Management Committee. The group is scheduled to speak at City Council on Wednesday.
We have also added an insightful talk by Susan Booth-Binczik, Ph.D., NYSDEC Urban White-tailed Deer Specialist at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Booth-Binczik is one of the authors of the DEC paper that Missy Fabel references below.
Going Native is our gardening series highlighting the contribution of native plants to building resilient landscapes. MyRye.com will introduce you to native plant experts that will tell you ways to get started with a small garden patch, a complete property or just a few garden containers.
Today we speak with Missy Fabel of Missy Fabel Ecological Landscape Design.
MyRye.com: What are our municipal and county leaders doing to address the overabundance of deer in Westchester County?
Fabel: The overabundance of deer is the main reason our forests are not regenerating hard and softwood native tree species. It is why we are losing our shrub layer and wildflowers and why non-native detrimental species are exploding (since the deer generally eschew them) in our forests and natural areas.
Talk to your local town board, join your local conservation board, contact your legislators and the DEC about the Deer Management in Urban and Suburban New York 2018 plan. Advocate for stronger deer culling policies.
Also read: Going Native: Missy Fabel Ecological Landscape Design’s Missy Fabel and our Going Native series.
Watch: A 2018 talk talk by Susan Booth-Binczik, Ph.D., NYSDEC Urban White-tailed Deer Specialist at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. She discusses the biology and natural history of white-tailed deer in New York and methods for tracking impacts.
