Deer-cull plan OK’d for Cuyahoga park

Associated Press

BRECKSVILLE

A national park in Northeast Ohio will use sharpshooting under a recently approved plan to help reduce its deer population.

The National Park Service announced Wednesday its approval of the population-management plan at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Under the plan, sharpshooters will be used early on to quickly reduce deer densities.

About 1,700 deer populate the 33,000-acre park between Cleveland and Akron. Though officials argue the optimal number of deer is 20 per square mile, the park has about 41 deer per square mile, The Plain Dealer reported.

Park officials had studied the population issue for eight years, and argued the cull is necessary to protect trees and other vegetation within the park.

Under the plan, sharpshooters would shoot the deer at night from stands in areas of the park off-limits to the public. The venison would go to local food banks.

Sharpshooting likely won’t begin until later this year, the park said. Officials also may use a contraceptive program to maintain the deer population, once it’s reduced.

The Park Service estimates the methods should allow the park to manage its deer population for the next 15 years.

Other national parks have adopted similar plans to deal with deer and elk, including Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Indiana and Valley Forge National Historic Park in Pennsylvania.