LAST EDITED ON Mar-09-09 AT 02:19PM (MST)[p]http://www.createstrat.com/muledeerinthewest/westthatwas.html
"The quiet crisis began with the settling of the West. After livestock were introduced into the Great Basin in the 1860s, native bunch grasses were overgrazed and replaced by sagebrush. A severe winter in the late 1800s decimated many livestock herds and wildlife populations. This was followed by an abundance of wildfires and about seven wet years in the Great Basin, which led to the widespread establishment of bitterbrush, a high quality preferred food of mule deer.
The increase in quality and quantity of plants preferred by mule deer caused mule deer populations to rebound by 1950. During the 1950s, biologists noted fawn:doe ratios of 75 to 100, or even 100 to 100, something that is unheard of in many places in the West today.
Then some of the quiet crisis factors kicked in, resulting in greater competition for natural resources and a lesser ability of the land to support large numbers of mule deer.
These include:
1. Habitat changes caused by fire suppression, invasive plants and livestock management have lessened the ability of habitats to support mule deer populations.
2. Gas, mineral and oil exploration fragment habitat and continue to threaten important traditional mule deer range.
3. Predators play a shifting role as habitat loss and urban sprawl concentrate mule deer populations on smaller tracts of land near human populations.
4. Climatic changes such as drought and severe winters play a key role in quality and quantity of habitat, and the ability of mule deer young to survive one year to breeding age.
5. Habitats are fragmented and lost as a result of human population growth and development in traditional summer and winter mule deer range.
6. Interactions with elk may increase when habitat is poor or limited.
Today, virtually every ecoregion has a lesser ability to produce and maintain mule deer when compared to the mid-1950s. The term biologists give to the amount of food, water and cover an area can support is carrying capacity."
PRO
www.oddiction.com