The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a public hearing to accept comments on its proposal to remove the Douglas County population of the Columbian white-tailed deer from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. The hearing will be held Tuesday, July 30, 2002 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Express, 375 West Harvard Blvd. in Roseburg. An information session will be open to the public from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the same location. Registration for the hearing will begin at 5:30 p.m.
A proposal to de-list the deer originally was published in 1999, but action was delayed while substantial new information was incorporated. This latest analysis of the factors which led to the listing indicates that the threats to the deer have been removed. This population is now estimated at more than 5,000 animals distributed on 7,000 acres of habitat managed for the deer. Douglas County, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Bureau of Land Management worked to secure and protect habitat for the deer by negotiating land-use restrictions, and acquiring land through donations and exchanges. The Endangered Species Act provided incentives for local communities to adopt zoning regulations protecting streamside areas that provide important habitat for the deer, and benefits to fish and other wildlife species. Considerations for the deer also prompted the county and local communities to protect valuable farmlands.
Columbian white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus leucurus), a medium sized sub-species of white-tailed deer, historically occurred throughout bottomlands and prairie woodlands of the lower Columbia, Willamette, and Umpqua river basins in Oregon and southern Washington. Declines in deer populations resulted from intensive hunting by early settlers who also drained and cleared marshes, forested swamps, and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian areas for farms and cities, reducing habitat for the deer. Fewer than 300 Columbian white-tailed deer were found in Douglas County in the 1930s. The population has been protected as an endangered species since 1967.
If the Douglas County population of the Columbian white-tailed deer is removed from the list, the Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners will continue to monitor the population for five years. If a significant decline in the population is detected, the deer
