WASHINGTON — The meat from Rock Creek Park’s deer hunt will help feed thousands of D.C.-area residents, thanks to a donation from the National Park Service.
On Tuesday, the National Park Service donated about 700 pounds of venison to DC Central Kitchen. The venison came from a result of the deer reduction operation in Rock Creek Park in early December, the park service says.
DC Central Kitchen will use the donation to prepare meals for nonprofit organizations such as homeless shelters, rehabilitation clinics and after-school programs.
Rock Creek Park Superintendent Tara Morrison says the donation is meaningful for the kitchen, which has prepared an estimated 27 million meals in its 26 years of operation, its website says.
“We hope this will make the holidays a little brighter for those served by DC Central Kitchen,” Morrison said in a news release.
The deer management operation — which is in its fourth season — reduces the white-tail deer population by 50 percent each year, and maintains the population “at a level that will allow recovery of vegetation in the park,” according to the park service’s website.
Since 2013, the park service has reduced Rock Creek Park’s deer population from nearly 80 per square mile to an estimated 19 per square mile. The park can maintain a healthy environment with a deer population density of 15-20 per square mile.
Over a 20-year span, the growing deer population has caused trouble for the park — deer are damaging the vegetation, eating nearly all the tree seedlings and destroying smaller trees and shrubs that provide habitats to smaller animals, the park service says on its website.
The venison donation will not only help feed those in need, it also adds some diversity to the kitchen’s menu, says DC Central Kitchen CEO, Mike Curtin, Jr.
“We rely on our many partners to donate most of the necessary components to create 5,000 well-balanced, healthy meals each day for our neighbors in need,” Curtin said. “Today’s donation of venison offers some new variety to our meals, and we’re thankful to our friends at NPS for making that possible.”
