A few hundred years ago, our ancestors made a decision. One that would change the natural environment throughout the United States. They hunted wolves to near extinction.

This allowed the white-tailed deer to take over the forests relatively unopposed. Overpopulated deer in an area can have a significant impact on the local environment. One direct effect of this is the loss of vegetation that the deer prefer to feed on, to the point where some species may never be able to recover. When the range of one species of vegetation shrinks, another species that is not preferred by the deer will take over the terrain. There are many other effects of having this natural imbalance. Deer are changing the eastern forests faster than global warming ever will. If you care about the effects of global warming, then you need to understand the effects of overpopulated deer herds.

The solution I propose is a simple concept. Reintroduce the gray wolf to Pennsylvania. Wolves are apex predators, and Pennsylvania has had an opening for that position for over 100 years. We just need to get our state officials to ‘hire’ the wolves for the job of restoring natural balance in our state.