The Great Outdoors
The tail wags the dog 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 5,300 people. Each year about 1 billion board feet of prime hardwoods are put through these mills for a gross sale of $905 million. 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