Too Many Turkeys?

      One of the most well known cases of eradication and then massive repopulation growth for a species within the park has been the beaver, but few people know about how the same thing happened to the turkey. It's funny to think how something that was on all of our tables last weekend could have ever been scarce. Turkeys were everywhere when Europeans first arrived because there was plenty of forest. Forests are vital for turkeys because their main source of food is acorns and other nuts. As the logging industry boomed in the United States, more and more of the turkey's habitat was being destroyed. Soon the animal that was found everywhere was no where to be found, and in 1844 the last wild turkey was spotted in southwest part of New York. As the logging industry continued to grow in New York, to the point where 75% of the state was logged, there was no where for the turkey to live, and there was no effort to reintroduce them until logging was past its hey day. Turkeys had naturally started to migrate from Pennsylvania into the southern part of the state and were living in places where abandoned farms had turned back into forests. The Adirondack Park however continued to lack turkeys. At first, the state attempted to breed turkeys in captivity and release them in the wild in 1952, but this project did not have much success because the turkeys were too tame to survive. The next project, lead by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), proved to be more successful when wild turkeys in the southern part of New York were captured and then released in the park and other parts of the state. In 1959, the turkey population was 2000, and by 1990 it had grown to over 65,000 birds. Scientists were skeptical if turkeys could even withstand the brutal Adirondack winters, but to their surprise the birds have successfully been able to live in the mountains. Turkeys are now a common sight in the park, especially in our lifetimes. It's strange to picture our landscape without turkeys because they're everywhere now.
        The reintroduction of species in the park continues to be a hot topic in the Adirondacks. Beaver and turkeys were so successfully reintroduce, they are almost considered to be pests, especially beavers. As more species reintroductions are considered in the park, what has happened with the beavers and turkeys should be noted. Moose are slowly starting to come back and reintroducing wolves has been talked about (even though it won't be discussed during the Cuomo administration it could happen in the future, after all he won't be in office forever). What if wolves are brought back and experience the same population growth? As important as it is to bring back species, at certain point the DEC can only control these animals so much. I know this is an extreme example but not completely out of the question. Maybe it's just best to let things take their course and not reintroduce lost species.

       

Sources Cited

Rathbone, Ellen. "Adirondack Wild Turkeys Were Once A Rare Sight"Adirondack Almanack December 2nd, 2015. http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/12/57356.html