The Pennsylvania Audubon Society originated the idea for the conference and was assisted in organizing and running it by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

After attending, talking to people there and spending nearly two days on the telephone, it is unclear to me if the goal of the conference was as simple or clear as the title implies.

Former Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary John Oliver made introductory remarks and introduced a panel of heavy-hitter speakers: Roxane Palone, a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners; DCNR Secretary Michael Di Berardinis; Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff; Deputy Secretary for Highway Administration, PennDOT, Gary Hoffman; Gary Alt, former head of the game commission's Deer Management Section and now its outreach coordinator; and Bryon Shissler, a Pennsylvania Audubon Society natural resources consultant.

Oliver said the goal of the conference was to find a balance between deer populations and forests, agriculture, public safety and suburban landowners. It is a necessary outcome for Pennsylvania.

He said additional conference's goals were identifying the impact and cost of overabundant deer populations, developing an action plan to mitigate those costs and impacts, and finding partners to follow the plan to completion.

The last three goals sound good, except that the Pennsylvania Game Commission, an existing state wildlife agency, has already completed the first two goals and is currently working on the third.

PGC's new deer management work is beginning to pay dividends in halting the rise of the deer population. The PGC, the agency already charged with managing our state's wildlife, has finally bit the bullet and instituted a program to bring the whitetail deer herd into balance with the ecosystem.

Is the PGC's new deer management program a total success? No, but it has made significant strides in the right direction. The commission is having specific, cutting-edge deer studies done and adding new tools to their toolbox of management techniques. Additional proposals are forthcoming to continue reducing the deer herd.

The PGC deer management group looks forward to expanding the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) to more landowners; time- sensitive antlerless tags, which must be used within a given time frame or they expire; possibly more but shorter deer seasons; a large forest regeneration study; and the effects of acid rain and exotic plant species on forest health. Also, there might be efforts made in the future to match "Alpha'' (driven, successful) hunters to properties needing reduction of deer numbers.

Acid rain may be a factor in forest regeneration problems, but looking at new growth within fence exclosures that keep deer out shows clearly that deer are ruining forest regeneration.

While skipping here the panel's detailed examples of the negative impacts of too many deer, we accept them as a significant problem needing correction.

Audubon's consultant, Bryon Shissler, began his presentation by praising the game commission's deer- management efforts. He then trashed the game commission's efforts by speaking primarily about their past shortcomings, and ignoring new management plans implemented over the past three years.

Shissler is an avid deer hunter and has helped Philadelphia deal with its deer-overpopulation problem, thus he knows well the political realities of reducing deer populations. In Philadelphia, Shissler faced severe opposition from animal-rights activists who fought against hunting. Sharpshooters were eventually utilized to reduce the deer herd.

Deer hunters, the main constituents of the game commission, oppose lower deer populations statewide. Every politician knows it is difficult going against one's constituency, yet Gary Alt and his deer team have made great strides with their new program, and they are not finished.

In the past when the game commission tried to implement programs against the wishes of hunters, disgruntled hunters sometimes approached legislators who in many cases pressured the commission to back off. This occurs to this day, and the cycle must be stopped. Legislators, and game commissioners, must allow the game commission to bring the deer population into balance with our badly damaged ecosystem by severely reducing the herd size.

While Pennsylvania's deer population must be severely reduced, reversing the tide against high deer populations cannot be done overnight. Wrong-headed tradition still keeps many hunters from shooting antlerless deer. Even with concurrent buck and doe deer seasons, many hunters insist on, or at least work very hard to, shoot a buck first.

Alt has made over 200 presentations explaining the commission's new deer program in the last three years, and intends to take his show on the road again this year. Education is the solution to most problems. Generally, acceptance comes with education, but it takes time.

Using U.S. Department of Homeland Security jargon, there has been some high-level chatter regarding bringing the game commission under the purview of DCNR. While the chatter cannot be substantiated, it is real; look for movement after the elections in November.

Cary Nicholas, new executive director of Pennsylvania Audubon, said on Thursday, "Our intent is not to undermine the good work of the game commission, but we want to give everyone a forum to give their opinion. We're supportive of the changes made by the game commission.'' She also said, "We don't have a position about an agency merger.'' Regarding public forums, Gary Alt spoke about deer management across the state for the last three years and PGC has public meetings (forums) regularly.

Bryon Shissler, Pennsylvania Audubon consultant, at a public hearing about merging the commissions spoke in favor of merging PGC under DCNR.

Mike Schmit, the PGC's deputy executive director, said, "The holistic (overall, rather than as parts) approach to ecosystem management is becoming popular, and those supporting that want to bring the fish and game commissions under DCNR.'' Partnering is often a good way to solve problems, and there is a very real problem of too many deer in Pennsylvania. Working with the game commission, the agency already making strides in deer management and deer population reduction, just makes sense. That includes hunters, too.