November 2009 - Parks & Recreation - 13

Lessons Learned
Managed Hunting as a Solution
to Deer Overabundance in
Howard County Maryland
By Paul Farragut
Consequences of Too Many Deer
White-tail deer in many parts of the Northeast have greatly increased in number as a result of lack of natural predators, reduced interest and opportunity for hunting, and favorable food
sources available in the suburban and agricultural
landscapes.
Howard County, Maryland, a county of
more than 250,000 people located between
Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.,
like many suburban jurisdictions, has a deer
overabundance problem. A recently completed report, sponsored by the Middle
Patuxent Environmental Foundation, describes their county's successful approach
in dealing with this problem over the last
eleven years, and may serve as a useful model for other governmental entities and communities.
In many areas, deer numbers greatly exceed the carrying capacity of the land resulting in the over-browsing of desirable vegetation while undesirable invasive species proliferate. " It is common
today to see forested areas where essentially all vegetation, from
the ground, to as high as the deer can reach, has been removed, "
says county resident David Pardoe, a former staff member of the

How

DIDIT

GREEN

GIANT

Tracey Prothro

lligators in the bathtub? Tarantulas in the
kitchen? Iguanas in the laundry room? Sound creepy?
Not to Tracey Prothro.
Prothro began working for the City of Baytown Parks and
Recreation Department in Baytown, Texas, five years ago, becoming the third director of the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Education and Recreation Center and
the city's first Superintendent of
Natural Resource Programs. The
Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Education and Recreation Center is
dedicated to teaching the benefits of the wetland environment
and the effect that all of us have
on the local environment, and
Prothro is leading the charge.
The Center was almost destroyed during Hurricane Ike
when over three feet of water flooded the building. As the storm
approached, Prothro gathered up all the living creatures that
call the center home, including several varieties of snakes,
turtles, a tarantula and four baby alligators, and took them to
her home, where she cared for them until the center reopened
several months later.
In addition to rescuing critters, Prothro oversees the Environmental Education Division of the Parks and Recreation
Department, which includes the operation and programming
for both the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Education and Recreation
Center and the Baytown Nature Center. She oversees several programs with the Baytown Goose Creek Consolidated
School District, including the Wetlands Ecology Program and
the Liquid Science Program. Both programs have won Texas
Recreation and Park Society Lone Star Programming Awards,
teaching children about wetlands, animals, microscope use,
metamorphosis, water issues, watershed, aquatic species biology, and human impact on the environment.
" These programs, along with our summer camps, really foster environmental stewardship and get kids out of the house
where they can appreciate what's going on around them, " says
Prothro. " The programs fill up so fast-kids are clamoring to
get in. They get so excited about learning, and tell me they
want to work here when they grow up. "
R

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