Irene Frentz
Irene Frentz is a Pocahontas State Park District 4 Resource
Specialist who has experience working at Pocahontas State Park. She has a vast knowledge of the ecosystem and she was pleased to share what she knew with us. Enjoy!
CBG Reporter- What is the condition of the environment here at the park?
Ms. Frentz- Oh, the condition of the environment. Well the environment of course consists of quite a few components. Now we have lakes, streams, forests, different types of forests as well. Overall I would say the condition is good. Swift Creek lake sometimes gets contaminents such as bacteria from upstream. Usually these are not unsafe levels, but they are higher than normal. In general our forest are doing well, but one of our problems is that Oaks don't seem to regenrate well. What that means is that we do not have enough young Oak seedlings and saplings, so that when the mature Oaks come to an age that they die, we may not have replacement Oaks that will, you know, take their place. Part of the reason for this is that the young oaks cannot grow because it is too shady, and when there is an Oak in spot, other trees will quickly shade them out. One of the ways to prevent this is introducing fire into the park with prescribed fires, but I think there we get into a whole different story. Another problem for Oak seedlings is that they may be grazed too much by deer, so that also keeps us from having more Oak saplings.
CBG Reporter- So going off of that topic; Do you think that the deer have a certain role to play in the environment?
Ms. Frentz- Well that is a difficult question to answer. I think deer have a role to play and they are definitely part of the ecosystem. It depends on how many deer we have. If there are not too many of them, then they are imbalanced with nature. They eat certain things to keep them under control, which is good, and they of course create waste, and that waste returns vital nutrients to the soil. Eventually when they die they decompose and that also returns things to the soil. When there are to many deer, then we get into another story that you might have another question about.
At this point, another CBG Reporter joins the interview with Ms. Frentz, but she is assigned to the Pro Gun group of the project while we are the Green Piece or Environmentalists of the project, she is not associated with our group in any way.
Pro Gun CBG Reporter- Has the deer population changed over the past ten years in the park?
Ms. Frentz- We don't have direct measures of the deer population and we don't count them because it is kind of difficult to count them obviously because they are out in the woods. Also, deer move around they don't necessarily stay in the park. For instance a buck, a male deer, needs about six-hundred acres to roam around in. It is possible that all six-hundred acres are in this park with it being seventy-eight-hundred acres in total, but it could also be that his six-hundred acres are partly on the park and partly in the areas surrounding the park. Those kind of things make it difficult to count, but the way that we know whether or not the deer population is increasing our decreasing, is looking at the number of deer shot and killed during hunting season and managed hunts, and also by the number of accidents that involve deer within a mile around the park. The number of car collisions has come down in the past few years and this indicates that there were fewer deer in the park.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- Based on the research we have done in class, the numbers of deer have been rising a bit, not dramatically but just a bit. How do you think the increase or decrease of deer effect the environment?
Ms. Frentz- I can tell you around the turn of the century, around 1900's, there were hardly any deer left in Virginia. Deer hunting had not been regulated, and the deer were almost hunted to extinction in this state. So at some point, it started to become regulated, and the deer were somewhat protected. The VDGIF, although they might not have had that name at the time, had started to actually import deer, bringing them in from other countries. They did this on purpose to increase the almost non-existent population of deer in Virginia. Now, deer are a large presence here, and they have had impacts on ecosystems. The larger numbers have had some negative effects on the ecosystem. They also have had an impact on the number of traffic accidents involving deer. Deer have created agricultural damage, and also because more and more people are moving into what was deer habitat, and the deer pretty much say, "Oh, well thank you for bringing your gardens for me to eat." People have begun to come in close contact with deer and whether or not there are too many of them, people decide based on the damage done by deer.
Pro Gun CBG Reporter- Do deer prefer forest food, or farm food?
Ms. Frentz- Well, I think that deer really love acorns in the park, but I think what they probably love about farms, is that it is easy. They do not have to spend energy to find food. It has to get a certain amount of energy to live, and certain amount of energy to find food. They want to get the food that are the easiest to get. There is some evidence that does that are pregnant with fawns, they would eat very nutritional foods, whereas in the winter, they are looking for quick energy. If they could eat sugar in the winter, they probably would.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- Farm foods, acorns, and they graze grass are like the main diet of a deer. Anything else?
Ms. Frentz- Not really. Deer are truly herbivores and they really only eat plants. No bugs or anything living, but they will eat trash in neighborhoods. John can tell you that he has never found anything else but plants in deer stomachs. Except for on army bases. Deer will graze on the army shooting ranges and John has found bullets in the stomach of a deer before.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- What are predators of deer?
Ms. Frentz- There aren't a lot of predators left here, but coyotes will attack fawns, or diseased and injured adults. In the deep south, black bears will sometimes prey on fawns, but we don't have many of those here so that won't be a problem. Of course, some deer will die of disease or other natural causes as well.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- Is the deer hunting season good for the environment?
Ms. Frentz- Deer would have very large impacts on forests. As the food would become scarce and they would eat up to a certain up to a level where there isn't anymore green stuff around. The body weight of a deer would start to drop and eventually, the deer would die of starvation. This would effect other organisms which would effect other organisms and so on, but nature would eventually correct itself.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- So if there was an over-population of deer at the park, what would be a solution?
Ms. Frentz- Birth control is not a real option because it has been proven unsuccessful in the past and maybe for use in the future, but definitely not now. We could try increasing the managed hunts that happen in the park, I am not sure how useful it is. We have been increasing the number of managed hunts, but have ended up with about the same numbers of deer. Another solution that has not been seriously considered but we have been thinking about it, is to get sharpshooters to come into the park and to attract deer with lights at night and shoot them, but that would be kind of a last resort.
In a recent email interview with Ms. Frentz, we asked her some more questions to get a better understanding of the deer population.
CBG Reporter- What are your recommendations on how to solve the problem of the ever-growing deer population?
Ms. Frentz- Many, many years ago, the deer population was kept under control by natural predators such as wolves. As you know, there are no wolves in Virginia. Recently coyotes have moved into the state. They may prey on small fawns, but are unlikely to attack an adult deer. Deer diseases generally do not have an impact on deer population size. The best way to
control a deer population is to allow deer hunting. At Pocahontas State Park, a small area north of Swift Creek allows hunting throughout the legal deer hunting season as established by VDGIF. In the remainder of Pocahontas SP, managed
hunts are organized during six days in November (for archery and muzzleloader gun only; south of Beach Road only), and during six days in December (all of the park south of Swift Creek, shotgun and muzzleloader gun).
CBG Reporter- What would be the economic and social impacts of your recommendation?
Ms. Frentz- Some people are very much against hunting and feel that it constitutes inhumane treatment of animals Unfortunately, we do not have any other options. Experiments have been carried out with deer contraceptives, but these have not been very successful. Letting a deer population grow and grow is very hard on deer as well, as there will be less food in the environment to feed them, and many of them starve. This will also impact multiple other species. Many
people love the sport of hunting. Most deer hunters will eat the meat of the deer that they shoot, and some donate their deer to food banks. According to VDGIF, the economic impact of hunting in Virginiais more than 250 million dollars.
CBG Reporter- Is this over-population due to human-related actions or is it the deer?
Ms. Frentz- It can be difficult to tease apart the various reasons for the size of the deer population. But some of these reasons include:
o The disappearance of large predators (due to overhunting by humans)
o The disappearance of habitat (humans now live in areas that used to be deer habitat)
o Low tolerance by people for damage caused by deer: if farmers wouldn't mind it if their crops were damaged by deer, if
home owners didn't mind it that deer ate plants in their yards, and if drivers weren't upset about deer – car collisions, ... well, then we might not think of deer populations as being too high.
o Did you know that the deer population was very, very low during the beginning of the 20thcentury due to overhunting, and that deer were imported to remedy that?
CBG Reporter- Is there a history of animal population issues at Pocahontas State Park?
Ms. Frentz- Not to my knowledge. I've been working at Pocahontas State Park since November 2005. However, we were
concerned in the Fall of 2009. During our managed hunts, we always weigh the deer that the hunters bring in. In 2009, the average deer weight was down by 25%. Many fawns died that following winter. By Fall 2010, average deer weight had rebounded.
CBG Reporter- Seeing as modern society is growing everyday and expanding its boundaries. How do you think the environment has affected the deer population?
Ms. Frentz- If you saw pictures from Virginiaof about 100 years ago, you might be very surprised: there was a lot less
forest then than there is now. Much land had been clear-cut for agricultural purposes. When soil nutrients were depleted and the soil was eroded, much land reverted back to forest. Forinstance, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) in 1940, Virginiahad 14.8 million acres of forest land (58% of Virginia). Currently, Virginiahas 15.7 million acres of forest land (62% of the state). So roughly speaking, we have more deer habitat now than we had in 1940. However, there has been a decline since 2001 of over 130,000 acres. I think that in general, we still have enough forested land to sustain the current deer populations, provided that we came them stable (i.e., no increase). However, in a bad mast year (a year with poor acorn production) when deer nutrition is poor, and in years with harsh winters, deer may go hungry. As human populations grow, however, and subdivisions continue to spring up, deer habitat will be reduced, and there may be increasing deer – human interactions leading to an increasing number of complaints.
CBG Reporter- How do you feel the deer have affected the environment?
Ms. Frentz- Deer are a natural component of ecosystems when all parts of the ecosystems are in place –including predators.
Since we have lost deer predators, deer often threaten to negatively impact the ecosystems in which they live through over browsing. As they prefer native vegetation, they remove it to the benefit to exotic invasive species that can then get a foot hold and further edge native species out. Over browsing can also lead to a decline in tree seedlings and saplings, making it more difficult for young trees to replace old ones, as the latter die.
Specialist who has experience working at Pocahontas State Park. She has a vast knowledge of the ecosystem and she was pleased to share what she knew with us. Enjoy!
CBG Reporter- What is the condition of the environment here at the park?
Ms. Frentz- Oh, the condition of the environment. Well the environment of course consists of quite a few components. Now we have lakes, streams, forests, different types of forests as well. Overall I would say the condition is good. Swift Creek lake sometimes gets contaminents such as bacteria from upstream. Usually these are not unsafe levels, but they are higher than normal. In general our forest are doing well, but one of our problems is that Oaks don't seem to regenrate well. What that means is that we do not have enough young Oak seedlings and saplings, so that when the mature Oaks come to an age that they die, we may not have replacement Oaks that will, you know, take their place. Part of the reason for this is that the young oaks cannot grow because it is too shady, and when there is an Oak in spot, other trees will quickly shade them out. One of the ways to prevent this is introducing fire into the park with prescribed fires, but I think there we get into a whole different story. Another problem for Oak seedlings is that they may be grazed too much by deer, so that also keeps us from having more Oak saplings.
CBG Reporter- So going off of that topic; Do you think that the deer have a certain role to play in the environment?
Ms. Frentz- Well that is a difficult question to answer. I think deer have a role to play and they are definitely part of the ecosystem. It depends on how many deer we have. If there are not too many of them, then they are imbalanced with nature. They eat certain things to keep them under control, which is good, and they of course create waste, and that waste returns vital nutrients to the soil. Eventually when they die they decompose and that also returns things to the soil. When there are to many deer, then we get into another story that you might have another question about.
At this point, another CBG Reporter joins the interview with Ms. Frentz, but she is assigned to the Pro Gun group of the project while we are the Green Piece or Environmentalists of the project, she is not associated with our group in any way.
Pro Gun CBG Reporter- Has the deer population changed over the past ten years in the park?
Ms. Frentz- We don't have direct measures of the deer population and we don't count them because it is kind of difficult to count them obviously because they are out in the woods. Also, deer move around they don't necessarily stay in the park. For instance a buck, a male deer, needs about six-hundred acres to roam around in. It is possible that all six-hundred acres are in this park with it being seventy-eight-hundred acres in total, but it could also be that his six-hundred acres are partly on the park and partly in the areas surrounding the park. Those kind of things make it difficult to count, but the way that we know whether or not the deer population is increasing our decreasing, is looking at the number of deer shot and killed during hunting season and managed hunts, and also by the number of accidents that involve deer within a mile around the park. The number of car collisions has come down in the past few years and this indicates that there were fewer deer in the park.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- Based on the research we have done in class, the numbers of deer have been rising a bit, not dramatically but just a bit. How do you think the increase or decrease of deer effect the environment?
Ms. Frentz- I can tell you around the turn of the century, around 1900's, there were hardly any deer left in Virginia. Deer hunting had not been regulated, and the deer were almost hunted to extinction in this state. So at some point, it started to become regulated, and the deer were somewhat protected. The VDGIF, although they might not have had that name at the time, had started to actually import deer, bringing them in from other countries. They did this on purpose to increase the almost non-existent population of deer in Virginia. Now, deer are a large presence here, and they have had impacts on ecosystems. The larger numbers have had some negative effects on the ecosystem. They also have had an impact on the number of traffic accidents involving deer. Deer have created agricultural damage, and also because more and more people are moving into what was deer habitat, and the deer pretty much say, "Oh, well thank you for bringing your gardens for me to eat." People have begun to come in close contact with deer and whether or not there are too many of them, people decide based on the damage done by deer.
Pro Gun CBG Reporter- Do deer prefer forest food, or farm food?
Ms. Frentz- Well, I think that deer really love acorns in the park, but I think what they probably love about farms, is that it is easy. They do not have to spend energy to find food. It has to get a certain amount of energy to live, and certain amount of energy to find food. They want to get the food that are the easiest to get. There is some evidence that does that are pregnant with fawns, they would eat very nutritional foods, whereas in the winter, they are looking for quick energy. If they could eat sugar in the winter, they probably would.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- Farm foods, acorns, and they graze grass are like the main diet of a deer. Anything else?
Ms. Frentz- Not really. Deer are truly herbivores and they really only eat plants. No bugs or anything living, but they will eat trash in neighborhoods. John can tell you that he has never found anything else but plants in deer stomachs. Except for on army bases. Deer will graze on the army shooting ranges and John has found bullets in the stomach of a deer before.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- What are predators of deer?
Ms. Frentz- There aren't a lot of predators left here, but coyotes will attack fawns, or diseased and injured adults. In the deep south, black bears will sometimes prey on fawns, but we don't have many of those here so that won't be a problem. Of course, some deer will die of disease or other natural causes as well.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- Is the deer hunting season good for the environment?
Ms. Frentz- Deer would have very large impacts on forests. As the food would become scarce and they would eat up to a certain up to a level where there isn't anymore green stuff around. The body weight of a deer would start to drop and eventually, the deer would die of starvation. This would effect other organisms which would effect other organisms and so on, but nature would eventually correct itself.
Green Piece CBG Reporter- So if there was an over-population of deer at the park, what would be a solution?
Ms. Frentz- Birth control is not a real option because it has been proven unsuccessful in the past and maybe for use in the future, but definitely not now. We could try increasing the managed hunts that happen in the park, I am not sure how useful it is. We have been increasing the number of managed hunts, but have ended up with about the same numbers of deer. Another solution that has not been seriously considered but we have been thinking about it, is to get sharpshooters to come into the park and to attract deer with lights at night and shoot them, but that would be kind of a last resort.
In a recent email interview with Ms. Frentz, we asked her some more questions to get a better understanding of the deer population.
CBG Reporter- What are your recommendations on how to solve the problem of the ever-growing deer population?
Ms. Frentz- Many, many years ago, the deer population was kept under control by natural predators such as wolves. As you know, there are no wolves in Virginia. Recently coyotes have moved into the state. They may prey on small fawns, but are unlikely to attack an adult deer. Deer diseases generally do not have an impact on deer population size. The best way to
control a deer population is to allow deer hunting. At Pocahontas State Park, a small area north of Swift Creek allows hunting throughout the legal deer hunting season as established by VDGIF. In the remainder of Pocahontas SP, managed
hunts are organized during six days in November (for archery and muzzleloader gun only; south of Beach Road only), and during six days in December (all of the park south of Swift Creek, shotgun and muzzleloader gun).
CBG Reporter- What would be the economic and social impacts of your recommendation?
Ms. Frentz- Some people are very much against hunting and feel that it constitutes inhumane treatment of animals Unfortunately, we do not have any other options. Experiments have been carried out with deer contraceptives, but these have not been very successful. Letting a deer population grow and grow is very hard on deer as well, as there will be less food in the environment to feed them, and many of them starve. This will also impact multiple other species. Many
people love the sport of hunting. Most deer hunters will eat the meat of the deer that they shoot, and some donate their deer to food banks. According to VDGIF, the economic impact of hunting in Virginiais more than 250 million dollars.
CBG Reporter- Is this over-population due to human-related actions or is it the deer?
Ms. Frentz- It can be difficult to tease apart the various reasons for the size of the deer population. But some of these reasons include:
o The disappearance of large predators (due to overhunting by humans)
o The disappearance of habitat (humans now live in areas that used to be deer habitat)
o Low tolerance by people for damage caused by deer: if farmers wouldn't mind it if their crops were damaged by deer, if
home owners didn't mind it that deer ate plants in their yards, and if drivers weren't upset about deer – car collisions, ... well, then we might not think of deer populations as being too high.
o Did you know that the deer population was very, very low during the beginning of the 20thcentury due to overhunting, and that deer were imported to remedy that?
CBG Reporter- Is there a history of animal population issues at Pocahontas State Park?
Ms. Frentz- Not to my knowledge. I've been working at Pocahontas State Park since November 2005. However, we were
concerned in the Fall of 2009. During our managed hunts, we always weigh the deer that the hunters bring in. In 2009, the average deer weight was down by 25%. Many fawns died that following winter. By Fall 2010, average deer weight had rebounded.
CBG Reporter- Seeing as modern society is growing everyday and expanding its boundaries. How do you think the environment has affected the deer population?
Ms. Frentz- If you saw pictures from Virginiaof about 100 years ago, you might be very surprised: there was a lot less
forest then than there is now. Much land had been clear-cut for agricultural purposes. When soil nutrients were depleted and the soil was eroded, much land reverted back to forest. Forinstance, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) in 1940, Virginiahad 14.8 million acres of forest land (58% of Virginia). Currently, Virginiahas 15.7 million acres of forest land (62% of the state). So roughly speaking, we have more deer habitat now than we had in 1940. However, there has been a decline since 2001 of over 130,000 acres. I think that in general, we still have enough forested land to sustain the current deer populations, provided that we came them stable (i.e., no increase). However, in a bad mast year (a year with poor acorn production) when deer nutrition is poor, and in years with harsh winters, deer may go hungry. As human populations grow, however, and subdivisions continue to spring up, deer habitat will be reduced, and there may be increasing deer – human interactions leading to an increasing number of complaints.
CBG Reporter- How do you feel the deer have affected the environment?
Ms. Frentz- Deer are a natural component of ecosystems when all parts of the ecosystems are in place –including predators.
Since we have lost deer predators, deer often threaten to negatively impact the ecosystems in which they live through over browsing. As they prefer native vegetation, they remove it to the benefit to exotic invasive species that can then get a foot hold and further edge native species out. Over browsing can also lead to a decline in tree seedlings and saplings, making it more difficult for young trees to replace old ones, as the latter die.