Seven national parks throughout the D.C. area have begun to wrap up hunting season and have donated thousands of pounds of hunted venison to local families in need.
Over 12,000 pounds of venison from the region’s overpopulation of white-tailed deer will go toward feeding about 48,000 people in need through local food banks, according to the National Park Service.
Separately, in Maryland hunters culled 76,687 deer and donated 7,000 pounds worth of meat during last winter’s hunting season, according to the state’s department of natural resources.
A majority of the season’s hunters were biologists working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the direction of natural resource management specialists at the park service, though local hunters who took part in the season also received a state tax credit if they donated the deer carcass to charity.
The culling season at National Parks will end on April 30 and is done yearly to help support resilient forests and parks that sustain wildlife and plants native to the area. Overabundant deer populations have left parks with fewer tree seedlings since deer will eat them. Without seedlings, parks lose out on new tree growth, which allows invasive species to thrive, harming birds and other wildlife.
According to the National Park Service, Rock Creek Park and Catoctin Mountain Park have seen tree seedling numbers sharply increase after deer culling, helping trees mature and sustain more wildlife.
