Better Deer Management is Needed

URWA has joined a coalition of diverse groups to work together for more effective deer management in the state. The goals of the coalition are to manage the deer herd for the ecological and economic health of our natural areas, farms, and working forests, and for human safety considerations related to Lyme disease and auto collisions. The following is an excerpt from a letter that the coalition sent to the Governor on September 23rd.

We are writing as a coalition of stewards of New Jersey’s natural heritage. We are non-profit groups, farmers, foresters, naturalists, gardeners, nurserymen, and sportsmen conservationists. Our work improves habitat for New Jersey’s wide range of plant and animal species, enables residents to experience both the common and uncommon as they explore the State’s natural places, and restores the function of the ecosystems which sustain us.  

We are writing to offer our assistance with an urgent but remediable problem that is degrading our forests and farms and reducing their ecological quality and productivity: the severe overpopulation of white-tailed deer.

The effects of deer overabundance are destroying the capacity of our forests to produce the next generation of trees, and jeopardizing the many benefits we receive from healthy, functioning ecosystems. Exotic plant invasions, agricultural losses, incidences of Lyme disease, and automobile accidents are all negative effects caused by deer overabundance.

The Coalition asked the Governor for immediate action to manage the New Jersey deer herd to bring it into balance with our natural habitats and human landscapes. The group specifically asked for improving access for hunters on large preserved properties owned and managed by non-profit organizations and to allow private landowners to qualify for differential tax assessment if they incorporate deer management plans into their “forest stewardship plan”. They also called for legislative and programmatic reforms including asking that the Fish and Game Council could determine necessary Game Code changes and that the “Hunters Helping the Hungry” program should be fully funded and enabled in order to supply venison to the needy on a statewide basis. This program allows hunters to harvest more deer while benefitting the neediest.

URWA was happy to join this proactive coalition which advocates for the health of our natural habits and therefore the health of our vital water supplies.

Have You Seen This Plant?

Japanese Clematis
(Clematis terniflora)

Clematis terniflora flowers
Photos: ©2008 by Will Cook

This member of the buttercup family is native to Japan. It is a semi-evergreen vine that can grow as long as 40 feet in one year. Japanese clematis does best in forest edges, floodplains and stream and shorelines that receive full sun to part shade, but it can grow in full shade.

Clematis terniflora seeds

You can see this plant in flower now in our watershed. Its fragrant white four-petaled flowers are abundant, and will bear showy clusters of seeds with long feathery styles later this month. Japanese clematis looks similar to our native Virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana), but you can distinguish them from one another by looking at their leaves. Japanese clematis leaves are smooth, while those of Virgin's bower are toothed.

Although it is not widespread in New Jersey, Japanese clematis is a plant species we need to watch for and remove whenever we see it growing here. It grows so quickly that it easily tops native shrubs and trees, preventing them from getting the sunlight they need, and it can form dense mats that prevent sunlight from reaching the ground where young plants are sprouting. Our Central Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team has identified Japanese clematis as one of the invasive plant species that needs to be stopped in its tracks before it gains a foothold (roothold?) in this part of the state. If you see a plant that you think might be Japanese clematis on your property, or on property that you walk or drive past, please let us know. Call (908) 234-1852 or email Melissa Almendinger, our Invasive Species Project Coordinator -- we'll help you confirm its identity and determine the best way to remove it.

For more information about exotic invasive plants and URWA's efforts to eliminate newly emerging species from our region, please visit our Central Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team web pages. You'll also find out how you can become involved in this important effort!