Projects to Support California Deer

The mission of the California Deer Association is to improve California deer populations and other wildlife through financial support from the public. To accomplish these ends the CDA awards funds to organizations, both public and private, which have proposed projects that support habitat restoration and improvement, research, education as well as securing conservation easements and acquiring land in critical deer range.

2011 Project Results
by Andy Wood,
Acting Project Committee Chair

One June 4, the project and support committee met in Los Banos to review the 18 project proposals received for the 2011 funding season.  This year the project committee received proposals requesting over $300,000 in funds.  After reviewing and forwarding their recommendations to the board of directors, nine projects were awarded a total of $135,227; four habitat projects, three research and equipment projects, one land acquisition project, and one education project.

Habitat Projects
The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve received $9,500, which includes generating deer browse as a component of an existing habitat improvement program. In addition, this project will use funds for prescribed burns to manage and improve habitat, as well as expand an existing K-12 outdoor education program and also supports the BCCER hunt program by providing gravel for access roads and signage for the hunter parking areas.
The committee awarded $5,000 to Cal Trans to assist in brush clearing along Highway 139 in the Modoc National Forest near Tule Lake in Northern California. The purpose of this project is to take the vegetation off the right-of-way to lessen the amount of deer and vehicle accidents.   This project was submitted by the Tule Lake Chapter who will be doing some of the work.

A total of $2,000 was awarded to provide the Glass Mountain Mule Deer Herd with a much-needed water source.  The purchased guzzler equipment will be placed proximal to the herd’s holding area and summer range, thus enhancing the habitat in this mule deer territory. 

For restoration of the Mooretown Deer Herd black oak habitat along the Hartman Bar Ridge area, the committee awarded $10,000.  This project will cover removal of conifers within the black oak stands and will reduce the potential for stand-replacing wildfires and habitat loss. Treatments are to include hand-thinning, under-burning and/or mastication.

Research/Equipment Projects
The Highway 89 Stewardship Team (H89ST) has a multi-year project to identify highway crossings, migration corridors, summer and winter range boundaries, and fawning areas. Through a series of grants the H89ST has completed the first of several anticipated mitigation underpass structures on Hwy 89 between Truckee and Sierraville and will complete fencing in the next couple of years to ensure safe passage for mule deer in the LT herd as well as other wildlife, across the highway. A second crossing location has been approved and design and engineering will begin soon. The overall 20-year plan for the Team includes research, mitigation and outreach and the collaring of 15 deer each year has helped to identify priority areas along the highway for crossing structures. This year the committee awarded $9,110 to the H89ST to refurbish existing collars for another cycle of data gathering.

A landmark, collaborative and multi-year study through UC Davis that CDA has funded previously was awarded more funding this year in the amount of $26,516.  This study is looking at factors that may be affecting the decline of blacktail deer in the Mendocino National Forest.

A project that assesses responses of mule deer inhabiting the eastern Mojave Desert to the provision of water at locations where wells were decommissioned was awarded $20,000.  They will be comparing movement patterns, reproduction, and survival rates between areas where permanent sources of water have been provided with areas without a permanent source of water.

Education Project
$3,100 was awarded for creating an effective interpretive display panel focused on the education of OHV users on the importance of rules and regulations related to minimizing the disturbance to deer and their habitat in the vicinity of Humbug Creek Watershed. This watershed provides important summer and winter range for local deer herds. This interpretive display would be located in a prominent area at the entrance to the OHV trails, where all users must pass.

Land Acquisition/Conservation Easement Project
This year CDA is cooperating with the Lassen Land and Trails Trust for the emergency acquisition of a 20-acre parcel within the protected 365-acre Lassen Creek Conservation Area.  This is prime mule deer winter habitat for the Lassen Deer Herd, a sub-herd of the Doyle Deer Herd. The property is surrounded by protected mule deer habitat and is adjacent to the Bass Hill Wildlife area.