Protect Our Parks and Gardens Initiative

By Mardi Isler

THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF THE EVER-INCREASING DEER population in Schenley and Frick Parks has been a topic of discussion for many years. The Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition has heard complaints that the deer are degrading our park environment, feeding on young trees, and eating all the native plant and shrub understory so that only invasive plants are left. More recently, deer are migrating from the parks to residences, destroying flower and vegetable gardens. In 2022, deer were seen in the business corridor. Deer are regularly killed or injured by automobiles, and these accidents can also cause serious injury to drivers.

In response to residents’ concerns, the SHUC Board passed a resolution in October of last year: to gather research concerning the deer overpopulation issues in Schenley and Frick Parks and to develop a framework for evaluating their impact on the community and the parks. The Board acknowledged that recommendations for action can only occur after information and data are collected from the PA Game Commission, the Pittsburgh Park Rangers, City Parks staff, Parks Conservancy staff, and others studying the impact of deer on the parks and surrounding communities.

SHUC’s conversations with the PA Game Commission’s deer management professionals confirmed that all of Pittsburgh’s parks are burdened with deer overpopulation and that a solution would necessarily be city-wide. Park advocates from across the city verified this premise and provided links to data that, for some of our parks, goes back 10 years. However, they also noted that there is no baseline information concerning the consequences of overabundant deer. Furthermore, any data collected for individual parks is not collated with data from other parks and made available in one location or file. Therefore, it was clear that we needed to create a city-wide working group that could organize information and data into fact sheets for each impact issue and for each park. This “Protect Our Parks and Gardens” working group has started the process with an inaugural meeting that also determined what data is still needed.

The goal of the working group is to clearly define the problems that result from deer overpopulation and communicate them in a format that can inform public discussions. Researching possible solutions with the best chance of successfully preserving our parks and gardens is the next step. In addition, the working group will need to explain the consequences of doing nothing.

Residents’ gardens are a source of pride in our neighborhood and add to the aesthetics. And our parks are part of our social infrastructure, a valuable asset that contributes to Pittsburgh’s “livable city” designations. We need to maintain them as natural resources, as urban forests that provide wildlife habitats. We must conserve these open spaces for future generations. We know the damage that deer cause to the park ecosystem. They help push out native plant species and destroy the habitat for other animals, large and small. Their over-browsing leads to erosion— already an issue in at least one of our parks (Riverview Park in the North Side). The Protect Our Parks and Gardens initiative is taking important steps to measure and communicate these impacts.

A deer visits a Squirrel Hill garden.

Flowers and leaves grazed by deer. Photo by David Stephens, bugwood.org