Winter 2000

ho among us doesn't feel a thrill at the sight of deer? We come upon them in Chicago Wilderness, heads lifted, suddenly alert from grazing in the woods, or emerging at the edges of suburban lawns. Unlike a mushroom or a butterfly, they're flesh and blood like us. We're neighbors.

Who among us doesn't feel delight and yearning at the howl of a coyote or the slap of a beaver tail? These big mammals force us again and again into a collision between science and sensibility. A photo out a friend's window in Northbrook shows one neighbor's air conditioner and a four-legged neighbor gawking at the camera.

On the first day our friend moved in, neighbor Bob told him that the whole street had essentially abandoned gardening and otherwise suffered grievously when the deer population exploded. And, with an ironic laugh, he said he also puts out bushels of apples to help the deer through the winter. Talk about a love-hate relationship!

Chicago WILDERNESS invited a quintet of land managers, advocates, and policy makers from around the region to talk about deer. In a candid, wide-ranging discussion, "Deer and the Ecosystem," these folks described the dilemma of deer -- namely, how can we incorporate our love for particular animals with the desire and need to provide for healthy habitat for many species, not one alone?

Let's be frank. Treating deer as sacrosanct means an unacceptable trampling on the lives of countless other creatures. By now the scientific evidence is beyond dispute: overpopulations of deer are causing widespread damage to the ecosystem. Unless we agree on ways to control their numbers, deer will progressively wreck some of the region's best habitats.

So, those of us who care about nature face a challenge: can we love beaver, love deer, even love them tenderly, and still accommodate a care for the people and other creatures whose lives they may disrupt? Can we develop wise hearts and a uniquely human capacity to understand -- and to feel affection for -- the greater community, and not its individuals?

Often eyebrows are raised when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposes to build a dam. When the C.W. Army Corps of Beavers go to work, the results are often controversial as well. Such controversy is not to be avoided. If we want to have healthy habitat for deer and butterflies, for flowers and frogs, beaver and birds, then we must make decisions and implement them. At times the process may be hard, even painful. Making hard choices, however, is what we humans do. As parents, as voters, as friends, we make our best choices and live the results. At least in the case of deer and beavers, we seem to be getting better at it.

Debra Shore may be reached at editor@chicagowildernessmag.org.