Deer herds regularly thinned by hunting had little impact on riverbottom plant life, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study has shown. “Quality deer management” and traditional deer hunts seemed equally effective in preserving plant populations along the Wisconsin River, according to Rebecca Christoffel, a wildlife ecology graduate student at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. On the other hand, a deer herd that flourished under a strict no-hunting policy took its toll on plant and animal life in the area, she found.

The patchwork of woodlands and farm fields in southern Wisconsin can support more than 100 deer per square mile – but drivers and farmers won’t support that many deer. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulates deer abundance by balancing the public’s tolerance for deer-vehicle collisions and farmers’ tolerance to crop damage against hunters’ desire for abundant deer and the public’s desire to see deer. Private woodland owners control access to and manage most wooded deer habitat in Wisconsin, making them

Deer eat a lot! As they feed, they can affect plants, animals and even insects. Deer like some plants more than others, which can lead to fewer plant species in your woods.

Many studies have emphasized agriculture’s negative impact on wildlife as farming became more intensive after World War II. But some changes in upland wildlife habitat on Illinois farms were greater before World War II than after it, according to a recent study that evaluated wildlife habitat from 1920 to 1987.

The wild turkey has pulled off a stunning comeback in Wisconsin – but has the turkey’s success come at the expense of local grouse populations? That question has been muted a bit this year as the 10-year grouse cycle approaches its peak, but it often arises when turkeys move in. It was especially common when grouse numbers bottomed out earlier this decade.

When Wisconsin eagles and ospreys didn’t reproduce normally in the 1960s and 1970s, wildlife biologists identified the culprit – high levels of chemical contaminants in the environment and eggs.

Students from 170 Wisconsin schools participated in the State FFA Agri-Science/Natural Resources Career Development Event on April 24 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Almost 700 three-person teams participated in 14 contest divisions.

Rotational grazing may be the best of both worlds, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The researchers have finished comparing the ecological effects of grassy buffer strips, woody buffer strips, continuous grazing and rotational grazing along trout streams.

Nina Leopold Bradley will be joined by her three living siblings to celebrate the inaugural lecture of the Aldo Leopold Lecture Series in Natural Resources. The lecture is scheduled for April 21, 3:30 p. m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin State Historical Society Auditorium, 816 State Street, Madison. A public reception will follow the lecture.

Two people will be honored April 7 for applying the