Background
The property
The Schiff Nature Preserve comprises more than 600 acres in Mendham Township and Mendham Borough which is owned and managed by the Schiff Natural Lands Trust, Inc., a private, non-profit conservation organization. Schiff also co-owns and co-manages the adjacent 107 acre McVickers Brook Preserve with Mendham Borough. These Preserves are managed as a nature preserves which are open to the public for a variety of passive recreation activities such as hiking, bird watching, nature study, wildlife and landscape photography. Some of the numerous trails at found at both Preserves are also open to biking and equestrian use.
Land Management at Schiff Nature Preserve
The Schiff Natural Lands Trust has expended substantial amounts of time, energy and resources over the last few years trying to address a number of the major threats to the ecological balance of the Preserves. During that time, a major effort has been launched, with the help of a federal Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program matching grant, to control invasive plant species, restore populations of native plants, and improve the ecological health of our forests and meadows. Activities which have been undertaken thus far include the removal and physical control of invasive plants which are quickly replacing our native plant species, and the use of controlled burning to both reduce the threats of dangerous wildfires to our neighbors and promote the return of native plant species. In addition, plantings of native trees and shrubs have been initiated to begin the process of restoring the overall ecological balance of the Preserves.
Overabundant white-tailed deer
Despite these substantial efforts, however, the Trust has determined that our progress has been and will continue to be seriously hindered by the presence and impact of an overabundant herd of white-tailed deer. While deer are an essential part of the forest and meadow ecosystem, the densities of deer currently found here appear to be 4 to 5 times higher than what the ecosystem can sustain without serious adverse impacts. As a result, we have experienced and documented excessive damage to the ecosystem by deer throughout the Preserves. In particular, the over-browsing of native plants and shrubs has reached such a point that many native species are in danger of being completely lost from the Preserve. In many places on the Preserves, the forest understory has been almost completely eliminated, and young trees have virtually disappeared from our forests to such an extent that the forest itself is in danger of being lost due to the lack of natural regeneration and replacement of our magnificent trees.
In addition, we have also learned from painful experience that, as more native species are removed from our forests and meadows by deer herbivory, invasive plants quickly move in to occupy these niches. As a result, the spread of invasive plants such as barberry, autumn olive, stiltgrass, garlic mustard, and many others is clearly exacerbated by too many deer, to the extent that the spread of these invasives now proceeds at a rate which outstrips our determined efforts to remove or control them. Worse, in many locations, removal of these species has itself become problematic, as these invasives, most of which have minimal value to our native wildlife, provide the only remaining vegetative structure in our woodlands and fields. Removal under these circumstances can pose a danger of erosion, as well as create a temporary void in cover needed by a variety of species. And, as most local homeowners can readily appreciate, new plantings of native species intended to replace these invasives are extremely difficult to protect from the voracious browsing of deer.
In order to determine how best to address this problem, Schiff has consulted many of the major public and non-profit conservation organizations to identify and evaluate our options. Unfortunately, few good options appear to exist. Attempting to fence in the entire Preserves to exclude deer would be both expensive and difficult to maintain, even assuming that many deer could somehow be removed from inside the fences. This option would also just move the impacts to our neighbors, which we believe is inappropriate. In similar fashion, it is also simply not feasible to trap and relocate deer, due to the expense, the trauma to the deer, and the fact that, to the best of our knowledge, no one else seems to have a shortage of deer and wishes to import additional animals to their lands. Although promising for the future, attempts to sterilize deer to lower the population also do not yet seem feasible.
Map of Schiff Nature Preserve
Deer management program
As a result of our research, the Board of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust has reached two conclusions. The first is that, as responsible stewards of this land, the option to sit back and do nothing while our forests and meadows are destroyed, and the variety of habitats found on both Preserves which are used by so many plant and animal species are slowly degraded beyond restoration, is simply unacceptable. We acknowledge our affirmative obligation to intervene as necessary to restore the ecological balance of the lands we are responsible for managing.
Secondly, given the available options, we have also concluded, somewhat reluctantly, that the only realistic remedy which is likely to help restore a semblance of healthy ecological balance in both the short and long term is the implementation of a carefully designed controlled hunting program to reduce the number of deer, particularly the number of does of breeding age.
In reaching these conclusions, it is important to note that it is not our intention to open the Preserves to hunting. Rather, we seek to use a scientifically designed deer control project as an ecological management tool. In much the same way as we would remove excessive invasive plants, the time has come to reduce the excessive population of white-tailed deer which are so seriously impacting the Preserves. And it is further our intention that the method chosen to achieve this reduction shall be implemented in as safe, effective, thoughtful, and humane manner as is reasonably possible.
The Schiff Deer Management program is specifically designed to accomplish several objectives: (1) to reduce the overall population of deer on the Preserves, especially the number of does of breeding age: (2) to complement the recent similar efforts of Mendham Township to reduce deer populations on Township-owned open space; (3) to establish careful controls which will allow the public to continue to safely enjoy the Preserve throughout the year; and (4) to facilitate and complement other efforts which are being made by the Trust to restore and enhance the ecological health of the Preserve and the variety of wildlife habitats found here.
As Schiff proceeds with this deer control project, we will carefully analyze the results so that we can make future decisions as to whether this program should be continued, revised and improved, or discontinued.
