(Provided by St. Joseph County Parks)

St. Joseph County Parks will continue the deer management program at Spicer Lake Nature Preserve in New Carlisle this November.

Spicer Lake consists of 320 acres, much of which is wetland. The uniqueness of the kettle hole lake habitat harbors a number of threatened plant and animal species. Evie Kirkwood, County Parks Director, says that park staff has noted a decrease in key indicator plant species such as trillium and sweet cicely correlating to an increase in the white-tailed deer population.

The deer management hunt will take place on November 17 and 18, 2012. To emphasize deer population reduction, the management program will be an antlerless hunt.

Five hunters will be selected by a lottery to participate. Hunters must possess a valid Indiana Deer License and a minimum of one Antlerless Tag. Applications for the lottery will be available on the St. Joseph County Parks web site and must be received by the end of the work day Friday October 12, 2012.

In addition to being a county park, Spicer Lake is also a state dedicated nature preserve, a classification given to high quality ecosystems. Review and approval for the deer management program was required by the Division of Nature Preserves of the IDNR. Linda Byer, district biologist for the Division of Fish and Wildlife assisted in the assessment.

The decision to implement an deer management plan was based on several  factors: (1) the staff observed more deer and deer trails within the park property, and has observed increased damage to landscaping trees and herbaceous ground cover; (2) neighbors communicated they were suffering deer damage to their landscaping, but efforts to cull the deer population were hampered when deer retreated into the park property;  (3) the staff wants to act proactively, to protect the forest ecosystem and woodland wildflowers within the nature preserve.

More information and Hunter Application Forms are available at www.sjcparks.org.