Deer in Lassen County Facing Starvation After Forest Fire
Forest and range fires in Lassen County have burned up a large share of the winter food supply for more than 16,000 deer in the eastern part of the county, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game said Saturday.
As a result, the state Fish and Game Commission has called a fact-finding meeting in Susanville Aug. 27. It will consider an emergency hunt to reduce the deer population, and special feeding programs next winter.
The question of the deers’ food supply was brought to a head by an Aug. 7 fire that burned across 2,500 acres in the state’s Bass Hill Wildlife Refuge, and adjacent property of the federal Bureau of Land Management.
“Coming on the heels of high plains fires earlier this summer and several major burns last year, the Bass Hill fire may set the stage for large-scale starvation among deer competing for remaining forage,” said Frank Hall, DFG wildlife biologist in Lassen County.
He said that as a result of the Bass Hill fire, up to 2,000 deer may migrate into already-crowded ranch and farm lands in the area.
Hall said the DFG also may request Lowering of speed limits on California 395 in Lassen County because of the danger to motorists by migrating deer.
The Lassen deer herd already was believed to have exceeded its food supply before the Aug. 7 fire.
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