Left image: Pastor Sally Joyner-Giffin, Manager of the Thurmont Food Bank. Right image: Josephine Willard (on left, Director of HELP Hotline) and Carol Schorn (on right, Secretary of HELP Hotline)/NPS

Four national parks in Maryland and the District of Columbia recently concluded annual operations to reduce overabundant white-tailed deer. Two Civil War battlefields, a 5,810-acre hardwood mountain forest, and a national park in the heart of the nation’s capital donated more than 14,000 pounds of venison to local non-profits that serve those in need.

The deer were professionally processed and tested for chronic wasting disease before the venison was donated.

While the four parks were established independently to preserve different parts of America’s historic and natural treasures, all have suffered from the effects of high deer populations. Overabundant deer populations do immense damage to vegetation and eat nearly all tree seedlings so forests cannot sustain themselves. Deer also damage agricultural crops, which are a key component of the historic setting in Civil War battlefields.

Catoctin Mountain Park has conducted deer management efforts since 2010 and, in that time, has seen a 10-fold increase in native tree and shrub seedling density. Rock Creek Park began management in 2013, and Antietam and Monocacy national battlefields began in 2016. Each park has its own deer management plan, formulated in conjunction with the National Environmental Policy Act.