Michigan DNR Asking Landowners to Help Improve Winter Habitat for Deer

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking landowners to help improve the habitat for deer in winter.

The DNR is seeking private landowners interested in helping to maintain or improve Upper Peninsula deer wintering habitat.

To avoid deep snow, deer migrate each winter throughout most of the U.P. to deer wintering complexes – often called deer yards – containing dense canopies of conifer trees, especially cedar and hemlock.

This shelter reduces snow depth and allows deer to move over connected snow-packed trails. These trail systems provide access to food and assist deer in evading predators.

Ontonagon, Houghton and Keweenaw counties contain some of the region’s deer wintering complexes. The past three severe winters and subsequent decline in deer numbers have raised concerns about habitat conditions in these complexes, especially winter shelter.

To help improve habitat conditions for deer, the DNR needs help from private landowners. Of the 10.6 million acres of land in the U.P., roughly 20 percent is managed by the state.

“Predation, hunter harvest and winter severity all contribute to deer population fluctuations; however, winter habitat quality is the most important factor influencing deer population trends,” said Gary Willis, west U.P. DNR service forester.

“My goal, in addition to making folks aware of the critical need to retain conifer stands in deer wintering complexes, is to ultimately reach out to private landowners in ways that have not been used before to encourage them to work with a resource professional to first obtain a forest management plan and follow up with management plan implementation,” Willis said.

A meeting, which will focus on private land ownership in northern Ontonagon, Houghton and Keweenaw counties, will be from 6PM - 8PM on July 20 at the Greenland Township Community Center, at 1502 Mass Avenue, in Mass City.