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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Oh, Deer! NY Trees are Lunch

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Monday, February 14, 2011   

ALBANY, N.Y. - Nearly one-third of the state's forested land is not generating enough new growth to replace the canopy in the event of a major disturbance such as a windstorm or insect invasion. A study by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), has found the main culprit is deer. As anyone with a backyard garden can attest, deer have a voracious appetite for green, growing things.

Cornell University professor Dr. Paul Curtis says seedlings and saplings are high on their menu.

"When deer remove the native tree seedlings - preferred seedlings such as oaks and maples - that opens up the forest floor for competing vegetation that's going to limit the chance for future regeneration."

Other factors may also be at work, including changes in climate, invasive plants and poor timber harvesting practices.

Curtis says a Cornell study backs up the new findings, and he's encouraged that the state's Department of Environmental Conservation is considering all the new data in its deer management program.

Forests directly contribute an estimated $4.5 billion to the state's economy each year. If the regeneration issue is not addressed, Curtis warns that the long-term impact could be great.

"The forest industry and timber sales are very important throughout New York State. It's billions of dollars, particularly in rural economies that are sustained in many areas by the forest industry and the paper industry."

TNC wildlife scientist Rebecca Shirer co-authored the forest regeneration study. She points out that while deer are taking a big bite out of New York forests, other factors are detrimental, as well.

"Other stresses - such as changing climate, invasive species and pests and pathogens - are moving into the forest, in addition to air pollution."

Shirer and Curtis note that managing deer population is a complex undertaking and, Shirer adds, it can be controversial.

"We're advocating that the limits on those hunting permits and the regulations be based on all the available data and that we consider forest health as well as the health of the deer population in determining how many deer should be allowed to be taken every year."

Forests cover roughly 60 percent of the state. More than 60,000 jobs are directly supported by the forest products industry.




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