On April 4, 2002, Dr. George Parker, a Purdue University professor of forest ecology, presented to DNR Director John Goss his evaluation of the 9-year program to restore the ecological balance to Indiana state parks, which had been damaged by an overpopulation of white-tailed deer.

Parker developed and published the scientific research model that the DNR uses to determine when state park ecosystems are being damaged by an overpopulation of deer.

Parker's report includes recommendations for determining when herd reductions will be needed at state parks, now that most of the parks are in what Parker and DNR staff refer to as a maintenance phase. In the maintenance phase, the goal is to keep the herd at a level that is compatible with a park's ecosystem. Initially, the goal was to significantly reduce the size of the herd to a level that could be supported by the park without causing damage to the ecosystem.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources first began to reduce the size of the deer herds occupying Indiana's state parks in 1993 with a one-day reduction effort at Brown County State Park.

In 1994, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation that required that the director of the DNR order a hunt in a state park when, in the opinion of a biologist, a species of a wild animal was doing obvious and measurable damage to the ecosystem of that park. Deer herd reductions have been conducted as needed at 18 of 22 state parks since 1995.

Dr. Parker has developed an updated model that he recommends for managing the ecosystems in state parks that are in the maintenance phase. Included on this site are Dr.Parker's letter to DNR Director Goss; a letter with supporting documents from Indiana scientists to former DNR Director Larry Macklin; a presentation made by Dr. Parker to the Natural Resources Commission in 2001; and comments from DNR deer biologist Dr. Jim Mitchell, Pokagon State Park Naturalist Fred Wooley and Brown County State Park Naturalist Jim Eagleman.

DNR Director Goss adopted Dr. Parker's recommendation. State law requires that the DNR director order a reduction in the size of the deer herd (or other animal species) when that species is or is likely to do obvious and measurable damage to the ecosystem of a state park.

• DNR speicalist's recommendations for deer reductions in 2004
• 2003 state park deer herd reduction announced
• DNR biologist's recommendations for deer reductions in 2003
• Dr. Parker's 2002 letter to Director Goss
  • Table 1 - Deer removal by year; Table 2 - Deer removal by year; Table 3 - Current Status of parks and recommended parks for deer reduction during fall, 2002 in Acrobat Reader format
• White-tailed Deer in Indiana’s State Parks: has the control program worked and what is it’s future
  
  • Powerpoint presentation by Dr. George Parker in Acrobat Reader format
• Dr. Parker's 2001 letter to former Director Larry Macklin
• Dr. Parker's 2001 presentation to the Natural Resources Commission
• Dr. Jim Mitchell's comments
• Naturalist Jim Eagleman's comments
• Naturalist Fred Wooley's comments