Project Overview

The National Park Service’s Biological Resource Management Division and Cornell University’s Human Dimensions Research Unit studied human dimensions of issues related to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and deer management in park units of the northeastern U.S. White-tailed deer have been a major concern in park units of the northeastern U.S. for over two decades, and biological studies have been undertaken at a number of parks to determine deer population density, movement, and impact on park resources.

Because deer issues are keen in many Parks and deer biology has been well-studied in parks, management issues related to deer were chosen as a model system to study the ways in which human values and attitudes can affect wildlife management planning.

The project consisted of three main phases of research:

Phase I: In collaboration with NPS staff in BRMD and northeastern NPS units, describe the deer situation in northeastern parks and develop an approach to study management practice and application of policy related to deer issues.

Phase II: Conduct studies in collaboration with BRMD staff, NPS regional staff, specific park unit staff, and NPS partners to determine how public participation and civic engagement methods fit within NPS wildlife management, including (but not limited to) processes associated with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, National Environmental Policy Act, 1969).

Phase III: Conduct studies in collaboration with BRMD staff, NPS regional staff, and specific park unit staff to describe and understand the differences in values and assumptions of NPS managers and stakeholders with respect to biological resource management, and then suggest how NPS staff might utilize this understanding to improve management practices.

Phase I was completed in November, 2004. This first phase of research involved an orientation to the breadth of deer issues throughout the northeast, as well as challenges to management, as described by managers. Three main components informed this phase of research: the development of a model to describe the evolution of deer issues in NPS units, a questionnaire to determine broad impacts from deer, and informal interviews with natural resource managers.

While many managers noted high densities of deer in parks or the surrounding areas, local community members (stakeholders) often played a crucial role in the development of these concerns into management issues requiring attention. The NPS currently has teams focusing on basic biological, geological, and cultural landscape inventories, as well as visitor surveys. However, fewer studies have focused on local community members, their attitudes toward park actions, and their effect on management activities. Parks face many issues that may impact local communities, for example: predator restoration, fire management, invasive species management, and managing disease outbreaks. A technique to better understand how local communities relate to parks and management issues would be applicable in these types of situations as well.

Therefore, subsequent phases of research focused on techniques to help managers better understand local stakeholder concerns and address these concerns when planning for wildlife management. Research addressed both the policy level and the park level. At the policy level, this project examined techniques for fulfilling NPS policy directives that call for increased public participation, addressing such questions as: What are the goals for public engagement (to determine the nature and scope of the problem? to determine which activities are acceptable? to assist in implementation?)? At what point should public input be sought? How can managers design public engagement processes that lead to more constructive dialogue and discussion of issues? At the park level, this project developed a tool to help managers identify differences between the values for which the park is managed and those of local community members. A better understanding of these differences helps managers determine which approaches to public participation are most likely to succeed based on their particular circumstance.

Determining whether a park has too many deer is, in part, a matter of perspective, and the perspective of natural resource managers may not always be the same as those of stakeholders. Understanding the basis for these differences is the first step in engaging in a constructive dialogue about how to reconcile them.

In addition to better understanding management issues related to deer, insights from this project improve NPS ability to respond to other natural resource management issues that involve local communities with varying attitudes towards parks and management activities.