The manipulation of livestock grazing, cultivative communities, and vegetative communities can help manage habitats for mule deer, but these missions are often not compatible with bureaucracies.
The effects of reduced mule deer ranges can be mitigated by better management of the remaining lands to maximize their productiviy for the deer.
Various habitat management programs include the manipulation of livestock grazing, the manipulation of cultivative communities, and the manipulation of vegetative communities. For mule deer, the optimal successional stages are subclimax plant communities that can be perpetuated only through the influence of humans.
Since mule deer production is not the primary management goal on most private or public lands in western North America, mule deer habitat improvement programs typically involve a complex process of coordination among bureaucracies with missions that are usually not compatible.
• Image | © Tony’s Takes, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
• Sources | (Misuraca, 1999; Wallmo, 1981)
