The Game and Fish Department is coming up with a new management plan for mule deer in the Platte Valley.
The mule deer population has declined by at least 30 percent over the past few decades, and last fall, Game and Fish solicited input from the public about how to address the problem.
Tom Ryder, assistant chief of the wildlife division, says the management plan will incorporate the public’s input and will likely change how mule deer in the Platte Valley can be hunted. He says the plan will also probably focus on ways to improve their habitat – for example, by addressing beetle kill in the Medicine BowNational Forest.
“One of the things we’ve talked about trying to work with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management on, are increasing ways to open up some of that dead canopy to provide more forage for mule deer,” Ryder said.
Ryder says the draft management plan will be available to the public in early February, and public meetings will be held before it is finalized.