In Pennsylvania, this animal is more dangerous than mountain lions, bears and bobcats, and Natural Lands in Media thinks it can control it locally.

The gentle white-tailed deer was responsible for 4,857 car crashes and 21 fatalities in the state in 2023 and contributes to the spread of Lyme Disease.

But it’s also ravishing our forests, removing brush, saplings, bushes and small plants.

Natural Lands’ solution was to build an 8-foot-tall, 800-foot linear fence around the forest at Hildacy Preserve in Media, writes Ben Silver for Main Line Today.

The fence is too tall for deer to leap over so the forest can grow naturally.

“The concept is to fill this exclosure area with native plants—canopy and understory trees as well as shrubs—to replicate what would occur naturally at Hildacy Preserve were it not for the extreme deer pressure,” said preserve manager Mike Coll.

The undisturbed plantings will provide food, shelter and breeding habitats for insects, songbirds, and other wildlife, he said.

The exclosure deer fence also improves local water quality in Crum Creek.

Natural Lands hopes it’s one of many that could appear at its preserves.

Find out more about the deer fence in Main Line Today.