Whitetail population works on recovery

The White-tailed Deer that eat our flowers and romp through the fields have been on the Endangered Species List since 1967. At one time, they were in great abundance, but for the past 40 plus years have somewhat diminished.

“They were one of the original federally listed endangered species,” said Al Clark, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The exploring team of Lewis and Clark spoke of the White-tailed Deer in their diaries, but a lot of the information has been lost in history. They eventually began to only speak of “deer” with no specifications, Clark said.

Between the late 1800’s and now, the deer were split into two populations, the one that exists in the area and the other in the upper Umpqua River in Douglas County, Oregon.

At one time, it was the same population that extended beyond the Willamette Valley, but they have since disappeared in that area. Anyone can speculate as to why, Clark said, for instance, habitat changes, over-hunting, or the pioneers relying on the meat as a main food source; however, there is no actual evidence in their disappearance, and there likely never will be.

There are always threats to a species, Clark said, but right now there are two main threats.

Flooding was an issue in 1996 and again in November of 2006.

“Long term problems seem to be more along the lines of predation on farms--coyotes,” Clark said. “Coyotes are really raising havoc with farms, so the deer aren’t producing very many young.”

Elk living on the refuge also have an impact, although their herd size is manageable and currently not much of a problem. At times they have built up in numbers to the point they interfere with the refuge deer.

“They don’t bother the deer when they are out eating grass, which is mostly what they do, but when they go into the woods for cover, when they are in there, they eat and trample all the undergrowth, Clark said. "The deer depend on the undergrowth for food and to hide and for cover; more so than the elk."

The digestive system of the deer is similar to that of a cow or a sheep. They eat the twigs on the trees or the shrubs.

“They also eat the blackberries that so many people curse around here,” he joked. “The deer seem to like the leaves.”

Other than deer and elk, there are many other species that call the refuge home.

“The deer are the main large animal,” Clark said, “and elk, which we expect there always will be; they are native wildlife too.

"But in terms of furry animals, there are large numbers of nutria, an exotic species that we could live without; there are also a lot of beaver and mink, and river otters are very common.”

A lot of amphibians and reptiles call the refuge home as well, including painted turtles, snakes and salamanders, he said.

There are areas of secure habitat for the deer.

“Generally speaking, we interpret that secure habitat is habitat that is probably in public ownership or at least dedicated to conservation,” Clark said.

Aside from the refuge, these areas include Crims Island near Clatskanie, Fisher Island at Longview, and Tenasillahe Island, the large island in the river across from the refuge mainland. Puget Island is not considered a secure habitat because of the many private ownerships.

The recovery plan for the deer hasn’t been updated in some time but is still in effect.

“The deer can be considered ‘recovered’, which means removed from the Endangered Species List, if we can maintain a population of a minimum of 400 individuals, distributed in at least three sub populations on secure habitat,” Clark said.

A sub-population refers to each of the secure habitats. They must be of a certain size. Five or 10 deer in a sub-population isn’t sustainable.

“It has to be 50 at an absolute minimum,” he said. “You can’t just throw 50 deer out there and say, ‘well, now we have 50’, you have to see if they are going to survive, propagate and maintain. It takes a few years to be able to make that judgment.”

At the end of the month, Clark said, USDFW will begin aerial surveys to track populations. Experts will use the same high tech infra-red cameras the military and police use when tracking a suspect. The cameras detect heat on the ground and will make counting the large animal populations a lot easier than being at ground level.

Over the past 10 years, estimates of deer populations have declined based on helicopter surveys.

From 1996 to 2007, the refuge population declined from 100 to 60. The 2006 survey was affected by a severe flood in early November, according to refuge statistics, and peaked at 125 in 2002.

On Tenasillahe Island the population declined from 150 in 1997 to 85 in 2006.

On Puget Island, the numbers declined from over 200 in 1996 to 125 in 2006.

In Westport, Oregon, numbers declined from over 200 to 100 in 1996.