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McELHATTAN -- Deer management tags are now available for the City of Lock Haven's watershed areas.
The Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) was developed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) to provide support to landowners who are struggling with the results of deer damage on their property.
DMAP allows for additional antlerless deer tags to be available on particular properties -- where a temporary reduction in deer numbers may be necessary to accomplish forest management goals.
The City of Lock Haven has been on a path to improve approximately 5,000 acres of forest that surrounds the city's water sources. The path began over 10 years ago when the city joined forces with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) by agreeing to a Working Woodlands Conservation Easement.
Since then, TNC has led the city through the process of completing a forest management plan, becoming a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forest and entering the world-wide carbon market through a carbon brokerage company in San Francisco, Calif. A summary of the forest management plan, written by Appalachian Forest Consultants, can be found on the city's website at lockhavenpa.gov/government/cityauthority/forest/.
One main goal of the forest improvement plan is to improve the health and sustainability of the forest.
In particular, the forest management plan and forest improvement activities have focused on improving the forest's understory -- small plants, seedlings and saplings at or near ground level. This layer of the forest can be considered "tomorrow's forest" and plays a key role in the sustainability of the forest. The impacts of both deer and invasive plants have been evident in Pa. forests for many decades. Deer eat most of the understory plants that are important to sustainability, and they do not eat the plants that can cause major understory problems. Deer impacts and invasive plant expansion go hand in hand, and both need to be controlled to improve forest health and sustainability, a release from the city said.
While it may be obvious to most hunters in the area, deer numbers are down from their peak decades ago. However, because the City of Lock Haven's forest understory has been unhealthy for many decades, deer numbers do not have to be too high for the deer population to continue to have a negative effect, the release said.
The city is investing in the health of its forest understory and in the near-term local hunters can help make the effort a success by harvesting additional antlerless deer on the property, the release said.
If you are a hunter and you are interested in helping the city achieve its forest management goals, please stop by the Department of Public Works Office, 99 Second Ave., Lock Haven, to pick up a DMAP coupon. Coupons will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, until they are gone. The coupons are free, and they are to be taken to any local business where hunting licenses are sold. The coupon, along with a $10.97 fee to the state -- or $35.97 if you don't reside in Pa. -- will secure an antlerless tag for the city's property.
The antlerless tag can be used to harvest an antlerless deer on any of the three City of Lock Haven forest properties in the upcoming deer hunting seasons.
Once you pick up a DMAP coupon at the Department of Public Works, you can then purchase a DMAP tag online at www.huntfish.pa.gov.
More information about DMAP can be found online at www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/habitat-management/landowner-assistance/deer-management-assistance-program.html, or just search "PA DMAP Program PGC."