NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF DEER BROWSE IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN CLEARCUTS AND MATURE FORESTS

We assessed the nutritional quality of leafy browse of five deciduous woody species important to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimm.) during the spring and summer from recent clearcuts (cut 2 years or less previously) and adjacent mature forests (over 40 years old) in the southern Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia, USA. Direct comparisons of browse grown in clearcuts and mature forests were made with four species. Overall, there were few differences in the nutritional quality between browse from clearcuts and mature forests. Observed levels of tannin astringency appear to have little effect in reducing digestible protein in browse. The lack of differences in nutritional quality of deer browse from clearcuts and mature forests suggests that ease of foraging owing to spatially concentrated resources may explain the disproportionately high use of clearcuts by deer in spring and summer in this region. Consequently, as managers evaluate the relationship of timber harvest to deer ecology and management in the southern Appalachians, primary consideration should be given to browse quantity, distribution, and species composition rather than qualitative changes resulting from cutting.