Element 1: Interview with Dr. Gregory McGee

Dr. Gregory McGee is a professor at SUNY ESF in the forest biology department. Dr. McGee has been published in many peer reviewed studies, and teaches at ESF. Recently we sat down together, and I asked him a few questions about habitat fragmentation and other ecological issues.

Dr. McGee began by explaining the extent of fragmentation of NY's habitats: NY is a very varied state; we know that suburban areas and urban areas are very intensely affected, but also, agricultural regions with many closely packed farms and wide open crop fields are very fragmented areas.

Populations of large animals like deer are not affected by roads; they can easily cross over the roads to continue their life functions. Small animals like spotted salamanders and frogs however, can be severely affected by roads, not being able to cross them to new food sources, breeding grounds, and moving habitats.

McGee also explained that plants can also be affected by roads and development. If a plant relies on large animals like deer, or a flying one like birds or flying insects, then the effect on genetic dispersal of the species would be minimal. However, if the plant depended primarily on ants, or beetles, or even small mammals to disperse pollen, the genetic diversity of the species and populations would undoubtedly be affected, as these smaller animals would be unable o to cross the road. Wide open agricultural fields can also deter pollinators suited to a forested environment

We then moved to the issue of animal-vehicle collisions, and how to reduce the number of accidents.  We discussed overpasses, culverts, elevated roads, and other infrastructure changes. But in the end, it all boiled down to one major issue according to McGee; the huge overpopulation of deer in Upstate NY: “I don’t think we need to be spending money on developing money on moving deer around, we should be investing our resources in bringing the deer populations down.” He estimates there are about 300 deer per square mile in the area, while sustainable or natural targets are closer to 15 or 20 per square mile.

In addition to the vehicle-deer collision factor, McGee provided an ecological reason to reduce deer populations; “They’re eating our damn forests!”. Deer are major contributors to reduction of understory diversity in the forests, a somewhat personal issue to McGee. We discussed several possible routes of reducing said populations, like reintroducing wolf and cougar and coyote populations into the east, which would have obvious unwanted consequences. Physical and Chemical contraceptives given to deer could also be used to control population growth, but would have significant costs, as the drugs would have to be re-administered every season. The most simple and cost effective way to reduce the populations, according to McGee, would be simply culling herds of deer. The main reason we haven’t taken this step in a major scale is because of people’s moral inhibitions and reservations about killing large numbers of these animals. But in the end, the solutions remains culling the herds, and McGee emphatically stated that

When asked what the main obstacles blocking the efforts of conservationists were, McGee explained that the issue at this point is mainly socio-political, and that most logistical problems and science problems have been solved. The government needs to be able to tell people what to do with their land, and American’s individuality in politics prevents large scale government land management from resolving many of the ecological issues relevant today.