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If we are going to resolve this perennial deer
management debate, we must go beyond just stopping the
doe slaughter. It will soon be necessary to go toe to
toe with the forestry industry. Forestry has been the
driving force of herd reductions for the past 100
years. Within a decade of reintroducing deer in PA, the
forestry industry was leading the charge for deer
reductions. This is a matter of historical fact.
Over the past century many have been
convinced that forestry is bigger, more powerful and
more critical to this state’s economy than hunting. Per
the “Center for Rural Pennsylvania” hunting is a 5
billion-dollar industry employing nearly 50,000 people.
Forestry is often pegged at a 5 billion-dollar industry
as well, but I’ve heard claims up to 15-billion
dollars. I decided to do some research and as you might
expect forestry is not all that it is cranked up to be.
I turned to Penn State University for this information,
but must admit I am short a few numbers. However, I
have enough to write this column and do a fundamental
comparison.
There are 360 sawmills in the state of PA
employing 5300 people. Each year about 1 billion board
feet of prime hardwoods are put through these mills for
a gross sale of 905 million dollars. Two hundred
million board feet are timbered from state holdings and
800 million from private and commercial land. Of the 1
billion board feet processed 70% is exported. The
remaining 300 million board stays in PA to become
finished products.
In all fairness I do not know yet (I am
working on it) how many people are employed as loggers
to get the timber to the sawmills. Additionally, I
don’t know the sales or employment numbers for the 300
million board feet that stays in PA. However, as you
can see forestry has a very long way to go to challenge
hunting as an industry in economic impact and number of
people employed.
The reason I wrote this column is because we
as hunters can easily feel the disdain the forestry
industry has for deer and the total disrespect they
display for the hunting industry. Their contempt for
deer plays out at every PGC Game Commission meeting in
the words of Blaine Puller of Collins Pines and Ken
Kane, the forestry consultant and industry lobbyist.
These two guys are at every Game Commission meeting to
bash deer and advocate statewide herd reductions. I
find it interesting that their land holdings are
miniscule in the scheme of things, but they are out
front at every meeting advocating statewide reductions.
I could only guess that no one ever explained to them
Title 34, the Game Law. If the PGC were to manage deer
statewide per the desires of the commercial forestry
industry, the PGC would be in violation of state law. I
believe you will see this discussed intensely during the
lawsuit against the PGC. Mr. Kane and Mr. Puller are
obviously so accustomed to playing this game they never
stopped to realize their deer problems are a company
problem, not the PGC’s or the state’s problem.
To make matters worse the forestry industry
tends to be antiquated in their beliefs and unwilling to
accept modern science. Their “kill the deer” philosophy
dates back to pre-1950’s at a time when science didn’t
fully understand soil composition complexities.
Frankly, science is still wrestling with soil nutrients,
pH levels and why Mother Nature allows some trees to
proliferate and others to die off. The ecology of
forest composition seems to escape the intellect of the
forestry industry and their solutions to our complex
forest problems are always the same, just “kill the
deer”.
An interesting development in this
forestry/deer debate that was just brought to my
attention is the policy of “stand improvement cuts”.
Soon, I will do more research and dedicate an entire
column to this potential wildlife disaster.
The truth is I wrote this column because
forestry is presently challenging the hunting industry
to a fight. Forestry doesn’t care if the hunting
industry collapses. They are determined to manage our
PA forests for the maximum number of valuable hardwood
trees. It’s about greed and money.
My research indicates forestry is making a
strategic mistake going for the throats of our 1 million
PA hunters. Up to this point in history the tail has
wagged the dog in this state, but it is a new
millennium. Hunters are smarter and better organized
than they were in 1950.
We shall soon see who is the “Big Dog” in
this state.
Jim Slinsky is the host
and producer of the "Sportsman’s Connection", a
nationally syndicated, outdoor-talk radio program. For a
station near you or to contact Jim, visit his website at
www.outdoortalknetwork.com
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