When nature meets nurture, there can be war

SALISBURY — Jim Sterba said that it is “very likely” that there are more people living in close proximity to wild animals in the eastern United States than anywhere else on the planet.Sterba, author of “Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds,” had a lot to say on the subject to a full house on Saturday, Nov. 30, at a talk sponsored by the Salisbury Association Land Trust and held at the Scoville Memorial Library.And much of it contradicted popular opinion.Sterba said that forested areas in the East have made such a comeback that, combined with the growth of suburbs and exurbs, the result is humans and wild animals interacting far more than in the past.“It’s worth celebrating,” he said. “Unless you hit a deer in your car, or have goose droppings all over your yard, or coyotes kill your cats, or beavers flood your driveway or bears ransack your garbage.”He said that when towns try to decide what to do about deer overpopulation, the discussion quickly gets heated.“We are divided into species partisans.”Often people cannot even agree on what constitutes over-abundance.Sterba said the current situation was “preceded by 400 years of forest and wildlife destruction,” where a field of tree stumps was seen as a sign of progress.By the start of the 20th century, wildlife populations in the East consisted of “remnants or worse.”There were five beavers in the entire Adirondack mountain range in 1905, for example.A pre-Colonial population of 3 million white-tailed deer had dwindled to 30,000.And the passenger pigeon was famously hunted to extinction.The conservation movement began in response to this, and, 150 years later, the forests grew back, the animals returned.And what Sterba called “sprawl” started.“People left the cities and became ‘forest people,’” he said.Sterba said that conservation-minded people either didn’t notice the comeback of forests and wildlife, or didn’t want to acknowledge it.“It contradicts the George Perkins Marsh, [Henry David] Thoreau narrative of loss.”Today’s forested areas do not look exactly like the pre-Colombian landscape, of course. “You have different trees of different ages; forests are laced with roads, drainage systems and houses.“But if you get up high enough and look from Portland, Maine, to Norfolk, Va., you’ll see nothing but forest.”Sterba said Connecticut is 60 percent forest, despite being the fourth most densely settled state in the nation.“In the summer you see trees. In the fall, when the leaves are down, you see stockbrokers.”Human habitat is betterThe resurgence of wildlife has been directly affected by man, with varying results.Hunting and land use became subject to increasing regulation. Wildlife sanctuaries and state and national forests were created.Animals were restocked. “Restocking was hit or miss,” Sterba said. In the 1950s, authorities “went on a binge” trying to bring back the wild turkey, even in places where they were unknown, such as Hawaii.And conservationists did not anticipate the suburbia phenomenon.Sterba said a majority of Americans in the 2000 census did not live in either cities or on small family farms, but in the sprawl.“And the forest and sprawl is filling up with critters.”When things seem out of whack, Sterba said, “Yes, it’s our fault, but wildlife encroaches back.“The reason is simple: Our habitat is better than theirs. If you find yourself in an unsecured dumpster at 3 a.m., it’s a good bet you won’t be alone.”Sterba then modified his earlier characterization of sprawl residents as “forest people.”“They are indoor forest people. People live in the countryside with no experience of it. We’ve become denatured.”And people have naive notions about nature. Sterba used author Jack London and Walt Disney’s “Bambi” film as examples of promoting “untamed nature as romantic and exotic.”Disney’s True Life nature films and their descendants, such as the Wild Kingdom television program, were guilty of anthropomorphism, he said, further distorting the popular view of nature.And then there is the strange case of the Canada goose, familiar to anyone who has taken an unscheduled spill after slipping on the birds’ copious droppings.Sterba said that in around 1840, waterfowl hunters started using live geese as lures. The geese honked, the target birds responded, and the hunters shot.So far so good. The practice was outlawed in 1935, and the restocking effort used the trained, tamed birds.This was not so good, because, as Sterba pointed out, “the decoy birds are already home.”In other words, they no longer migrated south to allow people there to enjoy them (and their droppings).For these geese, soccer fields and golf courses and beaches are home.The trouble with deerAs for deer, Sterba said that there are about 10 million hunters in the eastern U.S. who kill about 6 million deer each year.These statistics sound impressive, but Sterba said “it’s not nearly enough to stabilize deer growth,” with deer populations averaging between a low of 40 and a high of 100 per square mile in the sprawl.Sterba described a fictional town, “East Burbia,” that tries to do something about the deer problem. People are complaining about increased incidence of Lyme disease, deer eating their gardens, and car vs. deer episodes.“The shouting starts early,” said Sterba, and the town officials decide to hire a consultant whose report isn’t due until after the next municipal election.“The $15,000 study says yes, there are too many deer. It doesn’t use the ‘k word;’ instead it recommends a ‘systematic program of human-directed mortality.’”This in turn sparks outrage. Alternatives are suggested, such as deer birth control.Sterba described this as a “humane alternative,” but added that “30 years ago it was just around the corner — and it still is.”Someone else advocates hiring sharpshooters. Opponents label them “deer assassins,” and yet another group with a plan emerges: the Humane Christian Bow Hunters.Sterba said part of the problem with deer populations is that “sprawl man is out of the predation business.”He noted the regulations on hunting, and the tendency of landowners to close their property to hunting.“For the first time in 11,000 years, huge swaths of the white-tailed deer range is off-limits” to hunters.Which led him to this: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To show the deer how it’s done.”During the question-and-answer session after Sterba’s remarks, he was asked how he would fix the deer problem.Sterba noted that Princeton, N.J., has tried the sharpshooter approach, with some success, but noted that it costs about $60,000 per hunt and has to be repeated.Reviving commercial deer hunting might be a solution that would appeal to people on all sides of the issue, he said.The venison from the hunt could be sold at local farmers markets. “This is an idea the ‘antis’ could get behind, because it lines up with attitudes about locally grown foods.”