Laurentian Budcapping-Phase II

Currently, white pine forests cover only a fraction of their historical area, existing mostly in isolated patches. Recent monitoring of current restoration projects has revealed a high mortality rate in young saplings; this is attributed primarily to the increase in white-tailed deer populations that browse upon the white and jack pine seedlings. Restoring conifer forests has many ecological and economic benefits. Conifer forest also provides thermal cover and is an important winter habitat for a healthy deer population. The objective of this project is to protect seedlings from browse damage through the application of paper bud caps. This has been done in the past in this area and has been very successful. It allows regeneration of conifer species with higher deer densities. The sites to be restored have been already been planted by the USFS and are in need of protection from deer browsing.